Shattered Realities
by bluebear77100
Summary: AU, OCs, probable OOC, movie-verse, disregard second two books, occurs post-movie. Mo was working on getting his life back together with his wife and daughter when danger finds him. Soon the world is threatened and it is left to Mo to save everything...
1. Capricorn's Return

**Author's Note: **This is for nonprofit and I do NOT claim ownership of characters that are not mine (which are most). I also do NOT claim ownership of near identical characters or situations taken from other places. They are inserted here merely for entertainment purposes and used in a very different way for the benefit of the story. The way it is purely centered around Inkheart characters is the reason why this is not considered a crossover.

I know this chapter is extremely short but think of it as an introduction of sorts, as to how different this story is going to be. This is something I wrote a long time ago and decided to just go ahead and publish it on here finally.

_**Capricorn's Return**_

_Three months after the events of the movie..._

It was late and the bookstore was closing. Mortimer Folchart walked out of the used bookstore with a smile on his face and a book in his hand. He had succeeded in procuring a book that he just knew his daughter Meggie would love. He was also thoroughly certain his wife would enjoy it a great deal as well. The book was C.S. Lewis's _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_. It was a fantastic story filled with all sorts of adventure and it was nice to read a story together as a family. Resa was the sole reader for them of course. Mo wasn't going to risk bringing characters out of any stories again, which could happen if he or Meggie were the ones to read the books out loud.

He flipped the hard-cover book open as he headed down the sidewalk and began to page through it. Mo had only gone a few steps when he felt the presence of someone standing in front of him only a couple of feet away. He lifted his gaze as he stopped walking and his eyes widened in disbelief, an old fear growing inside. The smile dropped from his face. Directly in front of him stood the villain from the book _Inkheart_, Capricorn.

The fire-raiser looked exactly as he had when Mo last saw him around three months earlier. But Capricorn was supposed to have been destroyed. Meggie had caused him to crumble and break with the words she had written and then read aloud. The next moment seemed to happen in slow motion. The book dropped from his hands and clattered onto the concrete sidewalk. Mo couldn't manage to form words. A sharp intake of breath escaped his lips, expressing his fear and shock that was causing him to be frozen in place.

"What's this? Silvertongue made speechless?"

Mo turned his head slowly towards the source of the voice. It was the red-headed one of Capricorn's men, Cockerell. Standing next to him was the one who they'd called Flatnose but now his nose was typical size, more befitting of his face.

"Flatnose, you got your nose back." Mo finally managed, regaining his composure and pushing the fear away.

"That's right. Someone managed to read me out right this time." He grinned at the bookbinder.

It was at that moment when Mo heard a very familiar voice. Basta's voice.

"Silvertongue, nice meeting you here."

"Am I supposed to believe this meeting was coincidence?"

"Course not." Capricorn said, speaking for the first time. His eyes bore into Mo and it made the blue-eyed man uncomfortable as it always had. "You know, you're a much easier man to track when you think you have nothing to fear."

"And you of all people should know," Basta spoke up. "There is always something to fear."

"That actually sounds more like you, Basta." Mo remarked and then fixed a serious gaze on Capricorn. "How did you get out? I thought you were killed, Capricorn."

"We're not really sure how ourselves. I too, thought I was destroyed, but then a voice reached me and I was back in your world again. I am grateful to be back though. I have grown ever so fond of this world of yours."

Capricorn came a few steps closer and picked up the book Mo had dropped. He handed it to Mo, who slowly took it.

"Are you going to come with us willingly or are we going to have to make this unpleasant?"

Mo remained silent, the two foes meeting each other's gazes. Finally he did speak. "You know my answer."

"That's unfortunate for your family. We'll just have to use your daughter again. Well, can't say I didn't foresee this."

Cold realization hit Mo. "What did you do?" He asked Capricorn fearfully.

"Your wife and daughter are being taken to my village as we speak. Do as I say and no harm will come to either of them. Oh and do try to remember, Silvertongue, we can always use your daughter to read for us but she will be the one to live with the consequences of what she does. Do you really want to lay that kind of burden on a child?"

"Do you?"

"I will."

Mo had no response to that. His expression reflected the helplessness he was feeling overwhelmed by, and Capricorn and his men were reveling in it with much satisfaction by the looks on their faces. But then Mo frowned and glanced around.

"Do you hear that?" Mo asked to no one in particular.

He raised the book in his hands up just as a knife came plummeting. It was a completely subconscious movement but had he not done so, the dagger would have stabbed him squarely in the chest. Mo's eyes widened as he stared at the knife firmly implanted in the book, and glancing upward he spotted a figure leaping across rooftops, soon disappearing from sight. Mo lowered his gaze to Capricorn and could tell that he was just as surprised as Mo himself was.

"Look, there's a piece of paper on it."

Mo slowly returned his gaze to the knife and tugged it out of the book. The note simply read: _I know what you can do. Your death I bring on swift wings. _

Mo stared numbly at the words and he couldn't bring himself to do anything else. Capricorn came closer and gently eased the piece of paper out of Mo's hands. Mo did nothing to stop him and he lowered his hands to his sides, letting the book slide from his grasp, to the ground. Flatnose and Cockerell came over to him and grabbed his arms. A van pulled up and three of Capricorn's men jumped out with big guns in their hands. Capricorn smiled, looking up from the note.

"You're quite famous it seems." Capricorn looked to Cockerell and Flatnose. "Get him in the car. Lets go."


	2. The Village

_**The Village**_

It felt like deja vu. Mo stood before Capricorn, who sat upon his chair like it were a throne. The only difference was that there was now a set of wooden doors that led into the main room of the castle. His wife and daughter were escorted into the room at gunpoint and none other than Dustfinger, trailed behind them. Mo gave him a look of dismay and betrayal, which Dustfinger quickly recognized as it had been on Mo's face when he'd learned the fire-dancer had betrayed him to Capricorn several months ago.

"I tried to warn them." Dustfinger told him.

Resa confirmed his story by taking Mo's hand and squeezing it soothingly. "It's true."

"So you've been read out too..how is this possible?"

Dustfinger gave him a clueless expression and shrugged. "I have no idea how this happened. One moment I was home and the next, I was back in your dreadful world," he sighed grievously. "I just want to be home again."

Dustfinger got very quiet after that and Capricorn turned to the three members of the Folchart family. He looked at the daughter, Meggie, and gave her a smile that only ever seemed to inspire fear in people.

"Welcome back child. I eagerly awaited to hear your voice again. Now, what shall I have you read first."

"Capricorn, I will read for you. Let my family go."

Capricorn shifted his gaze to Mo. "Yes, you will do whatever I tell you to and your family is here to ensure that happens."

Before anyone else could say anything, two of Capricorn's men came rushing in.

"Sir!" One of them said to Capricorn. "There are men here! We tried to refuse them passage but they forced their way in. They appear to be..uh..what are they called in this place..."

It was then several of the intruders mentioned, came walking in and they were armed with guns.

"Military." Mo finished for Capricorn's man.

Three more of the armed men came into the room. All of these men were dressed in military camouflage and bullet-proof vests, and had the distinct advantage of readily bearing their guns while the majority of Capricorn's men were unarmed or standing down. The five military intruders began shouting, demanding Capricorn's men put down their weapons.

Capricorn's men looked to him for direction and after much hesitation on his part, he reluctantly nodded for them to comply. They hadn't been ready for an intrusion of this magnitude or any for that matter. The military men ordered Mo and his family to move back toward the others in the room and when the middle of the room was clear, it left people on both sides of the room.

Another military man walked into the room. He was tall with brown hair and blue eyes that really stood out on his face. The eyes looked observant and watchful as he looked around the room. Capricorn stood from his chair and narrowed his eyes at this man.

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing?"

For a moment the man seemed like he was going to ignore Capricorn as he continued to peer around the room at everyone. But then he turned back to Capricorn.

"My name is Martin Kross. The situation is simple. I have been hired to find someone."

Turning to look from one side of the room to the other and back again, he began to address all of them.

"Which of you is Mortimer Folchart?"

No one said anything and Mo was uncertain of whether he should speak up. He felt his wife squeeze his hand and she shook her head. She didn't want him to say anything and so he stayed quiet. The military man, or rather, Kross, didn't have much patience. He walked over to the other side of the room and placed a gun to the head of the front-most man of Capricorn's men standing on that side. That man happened to be Cockerell.

"I'll ask once more. Which one of you is Mortimer Folchart?"

He was met once again with silence and he cocked the gun, preparing to fire a bullet into Cockerell's brain. Cockerell's eyes were wide in surprise and fear but he made no move to reveal Mo's identity. Mo wasn't about to let a man die for him though, even if it was one of Capricorn's men. Mo squeezed his wife's hand in an attempt to reassure her that he knew what he was doing, even if he really didn't. He released her hand and stepped out, away from the others.

"I'm him."

Kross looked him up and down before pulling a two-way radio off of his belt.

"We got him. Room is clear."

No more than a minute later, two military men entered, leaving the total at seven, not including Kross. Behind those two men, a man dressed in black clothes came into the room. The man had a black dress jacket on over a black dress shirt and blue jeans. He looked at Mo and nodded.

"It's him," he noted before speaking directly to Mo. "My name is Mr. X. Do you know that name?"

Mo stared at him blankly. He'd never hear of him before. And was Mr. X an actual name? The man, Mr. X, smiled at Mo. His mouth was smiling but the smile didn't reach his eyes, revealing the falseness of the smile.

"Not surprising, an upstanding citizen like yourself isn't likely to cross paths with men like me. Then again..finding you here with a man like him..." He gestured vaguely in Capricorn's direction as he said the last part.

"You know who I am?" Capricorn questioned.

"The terror you brought to this area isn't all that secretive. A man like you seems to take few precautions."

Mr. X and Capricorn's eyes met and everyone could see the instant dislike that Capricorn had for this man. Mr. X either didn't notice or didn't care. He shifted away from Capricorn, back to Mo.

"Well you may not know me, but I know about you, Mr. Folchart. You are a man with quite a few secrets and..unusual acquaintances. Today, I am here for one particular secret and that is all I require of you. I seek the location of a girl named Elanora Jane."

When Mo said nothing to this, Mr. X leaned closer, his cold calculating eyes looking into Mo's own eyes. "Where-is-Elanora-Jane?" He pronunciated each word slowly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Mr. X seemed mildly annoyed. He signaled to Kross whose face turned upwards into the most creepy of smiles. With the grin still on his face, he left the room with two of the men following. He re-entered the room moments later with the two military men behind him carrying a chair with straps attached to parts of it. They set the chair down near the center of the room and then Kross came for Mo.

"Sit."

Mo made no movement to obey and Kross wasted no time in dragging Mo over to the chair. With the help of one of the other military men they put him in the chair and strapped him down. Straps held his arms, legs, and chest to the chair. Kross wheeled in an IV drip which had Capricorn, his men, and Dustfinger all looking at it with puzzlement. They had never seen anything like it. Dustfinger was the one to audibly voice what each of the men that had come from books were wondering.

"What is that?"

Kross grinned at him as Mr. X began setting it up beside the chair.

"This, we're going to inject into Mr. Folchart..and it's going to hurt."

Dustfinger didn't quite understand him and Kross took notice of the confusion.

"Have you ever been stabbed?" He asked Dustfinger, but continued without waiting for an answer. "This will make him feel like he has knives stabbing him in every part of his body."

Mr. X placed the IV into Mo's arm.

"You could save yourself a lot of pain and just tell me where the girl is."

"I told you..I have no idea what you're talking about."

Mr. X shook his head in disappointment but didn't seem surprised by the answer. "Have it your way."

He injected a liquid via syringe into the IV drip, thus into Mo's body. Mo watched him do it with obvious dread etched across his face. Almost instantly his eyes widened and a sound escaped his lips. A pained intake of breath. His hands gripped the arms of the chair ad if it would help him bear the agony that now filled his entire body. He stared straight ahead, visibly trembling as Mr. X injected him again. This time a louder gasp of agony emitted from him as he continued to stare at a spot in front of himself. His eyes were unfocused as he was not looking at anything in particular.

Meggie was terrified. Her father's beautiful blue-green eyes were usually full of laughter and kindness. Yes, she had always noticed a bit of sadness in them which she knew was only natural for a man who had lost his wife for over nine years, but never had she seen those eyes filled with so much pain and fear. Her mother pulled her into her arms and held her so that Meggie's face was buried into her mother's shirt.

"Don't watch, my sweetheart," her mother murmured.

Her mom sounded scared and that frightened Meggie even more.

"Tell me what I want to know and the pain will stop."

Slowly, Mo turned his eyes to Mr. X. He swallowed hard. "You want to know something? I'll tell you something. Something about polar bears. Did you know a polar bear's skin is actually black?"

Mr. X was not amused. He backhanded Mo across the face, knocking his head sideways with the powerful blow. Mo returned his gaze to Mr. X and continued.

"And did you know, a polar bear's fur isn't white, it's actually clear."

A straight punch caused Mo's head to snap back and he gave a cough as he laughed painfully. He lowered his head back to face Mr. X as he was injected for a third time.

"Answer the question. Where is Elanora?"

"It's been said that men can read smaller print and women can hear better than men. Maybe that's the problem we're having here."

Mr. X hit him again, blood began to leak from is nose. The syringe emptied something into the IV once again.

"Tell me where she is."

Mo looked at him with anger. "I told you I don't know! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

He was injected another time and Mo's head fell backwards, his eyes rolling to the back of his head before his head dropped, eyes closing. Mr. X put the syringe down and tilted Mo's head back, slapping at his face.

"Wake up, Mr. Folchart. Come on..."

With another slap, Mo jolted back to consciousness, his breathing labored and his eyes wide.

"Tell me what I want to know and then you can sleep."

Mo seemed completely out of it now. He was staring at something, slightly to the right of himself and then he murmured, "No..."

Mr. X narrowed his eyes at him. "What?"

Mo didn't appear to hear him.

"I'm sorry. I tried. I tried to save you but I couldn't. I'm so sorry."

Everyone in the room was left confused. Mo was talking to somebody who wasn't there. Mr. X responded to the mass confusion.

"The drug can cause hallucinations. Most likely he's seeing someone from his past. Most likely a dead someone. It's the most common sight anyway."

"No...we couldn't find your body. But there was so much blood..."

Mr. X leaned close to Mo. "Come on now. Just tell me. Tell me where the girl is or you'll die."

Suddenly Mo turned his eyes to stare straight into Mr. X's own.

"She says you're a liar."

Mr. X blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"You have orders to kill me."

Mr. X stared at Mo in astonishment but before he could say anything, the room erupted into violence. The military men were caught completely off guard by Capricorn's men. It was over in a matter of seconds. Capricorn's men now held the military men's weapons. Capricorn once again in control, looked over at Mr. X.

"Step away from that man."

Mr. X appeared rather unhappy at this turn of events but he obeyed Capricorn's order, stepping away from Mo. Capricorn ordered two of his men to get Mo out of the chair. They did so after carefully removing the IV and undoing the straps. They helped him out of the chair and between the two of them, they held him up because he was far too weak to stand on his own.

"Resa." Mo started and then he went limp.

The two men holding him up looked alarmed.

"Boss, I don't think he's breathing," one of them said.

They laid him on the ground and Resa came running over. She checked his pulse by placing two fingers on a vein in his neck, and immediately after placed two hands on his chest, one over the other, and began to push down several times. Dustfinger appeared startled.

"What is she doing?"

"CPR." Meggie answered him, her voice trembling.

"What?"

"She's trying to make him breathe again," was the answer from the twelve-year-old girl.

She was crying silently, scared to death her father was dead. Resa tilted Mo's head back and breathed into his mouth, then repeated the compressions but still his eyes remained shut. Resa began to cry too, tears streaming down her face as she continued to administer CPR to her husband.

"Come on, wake up. Don't die on me. Wake up. Come on, Mo, wake up!"

There was no change in his condition and Mr. X laughed. "Give it up. He's dead."

Tears flowed freely down Resa's cheeks now and it was Dustfinger who finally went over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Resa."

Resa let her hands fall to her sides numbly and she began to sob. "Damn you, Mo. How could you leave me like this?"

She cried out with angry grief. In her anger she slammed her fist down on his chest. Mo's eyes shot open and he drew in a sharp intake of breath. Resa was the first person he saw when he retained control of his faculties.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

He sat up and seemed disoriented. He glanced over to Dustfinger, who stood beside his wife.

"Did something happen?"

"You idiot!" Resa cried and fell into his arms, crying and laughing with obvious relief.

Mo stared down at her, still confused as ever.

"Resa. Resa, I'm fine."

When Resa finally listened to Mo's reassurances that he was in fact, fine, she released him and helped him get to his feet. Mo looked first at Mr. X and Kross, then at Capricorn.

"So what are you going to do with them?" Mo asked Capricorn uneasily, afraid of the answer he would receive.

But Capricorn didn't get a chance to answer because suddenly Resa's voice rang out in the mostly quiet room.

"Meggie? Did anyone see where Meggie went?" She sounded concerned and very near panicking.

Everyone started looking around but she was nowhere to be seen. The one thing Mo didn't miss, nor anyone else, was that Kross and Mr. X did not look around at all. In fact, they looked quite smug with themselves. Basta was the one who decided to count the military men again.

"One of their soldiers is missing." Basta pointed out.

Mo grabbed Mr. X by his jacket, his face angry and afraid all at once.

"Where is she? What have you done with my daughter?" Mo demanded.

Mr. X said nothing and Kross's face broke into a huge grin as he spoke. "You should be happy. I would have simply put a bullet in her head but my colleague here," he gestured to Mr. X. "Thought you should have a chance to save her life."

Mo released his hold on Mr. X and turned his attention to Kross. "Where is she?"

Mr. X chose this moment to speak up.

"I can't wait for my master to succeed. I can't wait to watch each and every one of you die," he laughed. "You shouldn't concern yourself with your daughter too much. She'll only die with the rest of you and that will be soon enough."

Capricorn's men looked around at each other worriedly. Capricorn himself looked at the man with hatred but also with something resembling that of curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Flatnose uttered. His curiosity getting the best of him unlike Capricorn's own.

Mr. X seemed only too pleased to answer.

"My master has grown to hate his own world. See, he thinks this place is too full of sin and hatred to be saved. So he's taken it upon himself to save it."

Cockerell spoke next. "Save this world? And just how does he intend on doing that? We've seen enough of your world to know how easily people will do whatever they want in order to get what they want. It's beyond saving so just how does he plan on doing that?"

Mr. X smiled. "By destroying it of course. I will be standing there beside him as he watches the world burn."

Mo stared at him incredulously. "If the world dies, you'll die too!"

Mr. X shrugged. "We'll see."

He didn't seem to be bothered by this revelation but his soldiers certainly were. They were exchanging glances with one other, appearing uneasy. Obviously they hadn't known who they were really working for. Kross himself seemed to have lost the ability to uphold his grin. Before anyone even knew what was happening, he stepped up behind Mr. X and in one swift motion, snapped the man's neck. The man had never seen it coming and he collapsed onto the ground with a smile still on his face.

"Goodbye David." Kross said before turning his eyes to Mo and giving him the information he needed.

"Your daughter's at a warehouse not far from here. It's about a mile south of this place, you can't miss it. Oh, but I would hurry. The building she's in won't be there for long."

"Wait! Why are you helping me?" Mo asked the man as he started to turn as if to leave.

The man paused and glanced back at Mo. "What good is getting paid to kill you if I won't even be around to enjoy my money?"

Mo sounded as if he wasn't sure what to believe when he replied, "So you believe he really is working with someone who wants to destroy the whole world?"

The man stared at him for a moment and then glanced at the dead man on the floor.

"This guy sent a professional after you and a group of mercenaries. Yeah, I'd say this guy is serious. Watch your back. I'll bet he sent others after you."

Then he turned on his heel and started to walk out the door. Capricorn's men moved to stop him but Capricorn signaled for them to let him go and the other military men followed him out the doors.

Mo started for the door as well but Dustfinger stopped him.

"Mo, you'll never make it. You don't have a car."

"Get out of my way Dustfinger, I'll run the whole way if I have to." Mo argued stubbornly.

Capricorn seemed to have been thinking about something because he looked at Mo with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You can take one of our cars. In fact, we're going with you."

Every single person in the room seemed frozen. All eyes went to Capricorn.

"Oh don't seem so surprised," he said, waving his hand as if to dismiss their stares.

"This master of the former Mr. X wants to destroy the world and I love this world. So it would be in my best interest to do what I can to find this man and stop him, don't you think? And perhaps he is where your daughter is. Now the man said we should hurry, so lets hurry."

Everyone was still in shock at what Capricorn had just said but Mo forced himself to forget it for now. He needed help and if someone could help him then he'd let them.

"Okay, lets go." Mo said and that seemed to shake everyone else from their stunned moment.


	3. The Daughters

_**The Daughters**_

Mo, Resa, Dustfinger, Cockerell, and Flatnose were in one car; while Basta, Capricorn, and four of Capricorn's men were in the other car. They sped south down the road and soon enough the warehouse Kross had mentioned loomed ahead. The cars came to a halt in front of the warehouse and they were only just getting out of their cars when the warehouse lit up like a matchstick.

"Nooo!" Mo screamed as he stared at the blazing inferno which had once been the warehouse.

Resa was screaming hysterically and sobbing as she fell to her knees beside the car. Dustfinger stood beside her, trying to comfort her with little success. Even Capricorn's men seemed shocked by the sheer explosion and fiery might of the blaze before them. Flatnose seemed a little sad even, perhaps he'd taken a liking to the girl? And Cockerell seemed surprised by what had happened. Capricorn himself seemed unaffected, as did Basta.

"Stop him!" Capricorn's voice rang out.

Mo was running towards the warehouse at full speed. He was going to go inside. Two of Capricorn's men ran forward and grabbed hold of him. He struggled valiantly all the while shouting for them to let him go, and he managed to pull free only to run straight into Basta's waiting arms. Together the three of them dragged him away from the house and held him there as Capricorn tried to talk some sense into the grieving man, temporarily lost to insanity.

"Listen. Look at me Silvertongue. Look!" Capricorn ordered.

When Mo finally did so, Capricorn stated what he needed to hear. "She's dead. Your daughter is dead."

At these words, Mo's struggling ceased and he went limp in their grasp. After a moment they slowly let him go and he stood on his own. His wife's sobbing grew louder and he turned to go to her.

"Resa.." he started, his eyes filling with tears.

"You!" She screamed at Mo and got to her feet. "This is all your fault!"

She charged at him and began to beat her fists against his chest and face. "This is your fault, you bastard! You killed my baby, this is all your fault!"

He did nothing to stop her from beating on him and he just stared wordlessly at the burning house. He barely noticed when Dustfinger and Basta pulled the two of them away from each other. Dustfinger held Resa who had finally stopped screaming and now had her head against his shoulder as she quietly sobbed.

A figure darted past them. Mo snapped out of his trance and Resa stopped crying as they took notice. It appeared to be a girl with blonde hair, dressed mostly in black. She ran past them and jumped onto one of two large boulders that rested on the ground just outside of the building, then leaped onto a narrow ledge on the warehouse and continued leaping until she made it to the roof. She then swung downwards, breaking through a window on the top floor and into the burning building. All eyes stayed on the burning warehouse as they waited to see what was going on. A few moments later the front door exploded outwards and the girl walked out. But what drew everyone's stare was not that girl, but the girl she held in her arms. It was Meggie.

The blonde-haired girl carried the motionless child over to them and Flatnose took Meggie from her. Meggie's face and clothes were dirty from the smoke but other than that she seemed in good health. For the first time, the girl spoke and they noticed that she couldn't have been all that much older than Meggie. Perhaps in her late teens at best. Her strikingly green eyes landed on Resa, who stood next to Flatnose, looking down at her daughter with obvious relief and happiness.

"She inhaled some smoke but other than that she's going to be all right. Just give her plenty of water when she wakes up," the girl informed Resa.

The girl shifted her eyes over to Mo who was standing on Flatnose's other side.

"Hey dad."

Mo actually looked at her closely for the first time and then he did something most unexpected. He fainted. The looks of shock that landed on the girl when she spoke to Mo didn't last long as all eyes moved to Mo when he collapsed onto the ground. When Mo started to regain consciousness, he could hear voices around him.

"Whoa, he just collapsed!" Mo didn't recognize the man's voice.

"Out like a candle flame he is," another man said with a chuckle and Mo thought it might have been Cockerell.

He was flat on his back on the ground and when he opened his eyes, he found numerous faces staring down at him. He stood up quickly and they stepped back to give him room. Resa stared at him with concern.

"Are you all right, Mo?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just a little surprised is all," he replied quickly.

"A little?" Basta remarked with a smirk.

Mo chose to ignore this comment and instead turned to the girl who had called him dad. He paused for as long as he could before everyone's stares started to get to him and he finally sighed tiredly.

"Hello Elanora."

Complete silence followed this revelation and Capricorn was the first to speak. He was smiling, looking particularly amused by the recent events that had transpired after the mysterious girl's appearance.

"Elanora? Do you mean to tell me this is the girl those men were looking for? That man tortured you and the whole time you feigned innocence and took the punishment? You certainly are full of surprises, Silvertongue. You are much more fun than I ever knew."

Capricorn looked quite pleased at this turn of events. Elanora listened to him before returning her eyes to Mo.

"I'm so sorry your family got pulled into this. When I heard he'd sent men to kill you, I came as fast as I could. Mom never told me what you could do. You know, with the reading out loud and all. If I'd have known sooner what he was planning then I could have warned you. But she didn't want me anywhere near you, I don't know why..."

Mo spoke up as she trailed off. "I suppose she didn't want you to come find me because she told me you were dead. As you can see, it came as quite a shock to me when you were suddenly standing here before me."

Elanora shook her head bitterly. "Mom says a lot of things..."

She seemed upset but after a moment her expression returned to normal.

"Capricorn, we should go to your village. It isn't safe for us out here in the open. I don't know how long it will be safe in your village either but it would be better than this place."

"What's going on? Why are people looking for you and why does someone want me dead?"Mo asked, looking increasingly confused.

"At Capricorn's village. I'll explain everything there..dad."

"Please, call me Mo. It's too weird."

Elanora nodded her agreement. A chuckle escaped Flatnose as he whispered not so quietly, to Cockerell.

"Can you imagine, Silvertongue had another daughter all this time."

A sharp glance from Mo shut Flatnose's mouth quickly.

Back at Capricorn's village, they all gathered in the room they had previously vacated. Resa carried Meggie into one of the maid's quarters, the room she herself had once stayed in before returning to the room where everyone else was gathered. Elanora stood silently near one of the windows, gazing out at the afternoon's clear blue sky. Capricorn was seated in his chair with Basta standing near him and Capricorn's other men were scattered about the room. Mo stood near the doorway with Dustfinger, waiting for his wife. When she appeared he started to go into the room but Resa placed a hand on his arm.

"Mo, could I have a word?" She asked him.

At that moment he looked extremely uncomfortable but he nodded. "Yeah, sure."

The two stepped out and closed the doors behind them. Those left in the room could all hear the muffled sound of Resa's voice out in the hall, followed by Mo's and then Resa's again. Then Mo's voice spoke in a loud whisper that was audible to the entire room listening intently on the other side.

"Shh, they can probably hear us!"

"Hear us? So what if they can bloody hear us! I'd like to know why you never told me about her!" Resa cried in anger.

"I found out five years ago, Resa. When I thought you were in that book! And a few months later I was informed Elanora was dead. When I finally found you after nine years, it didn't cross my mind to tell you. I was just relieved to have you back again." Mo said in an attempt to reason with her.

Their voices had grown loud, most likely without them even realizing it. Capricorn and his men could hear every word. In fact, they were all listening now quite closely. All eyes were on the door. All except for Elanora who continued staring out the window as if she couldn't hear a thing.

"Didn't cross your mind? That's your excuse for not telling me? Well I'm glad it worked out for you, Mo. Instead of hearing it from you, she shows up and all I get from you is 'oh, by the way I have a 17-year-old daughter!'"

A chuckle from Basta. Capricorn looked at him, expressionless as usual. Basta's smile dropped.

"It was a good one," reasoned Basta.

Capricorn tilted his head at him before returning his gaze to the doors. Basta's smirk returned when he saw the other men were grinning too. The voices had grown quiet again but Resa's voice could be heard slightly.

"I suppose you're right. I just don't need a surprise like this is all. I'm sorry. I overreacted."

Her voice got quieter as she talked to him and for a moment they could no longer hear what the two were discussing. Then all of a sudden Mo burst through the doors, his expression grim.

"I'm done talking about this Resa." Mo informed her as he came into the room.

She followed close behind him. "Why won't you tell me anything about this woman, Lynne? Hm? Why not?"

"Resa that's enough!" Mo yelled, looking extremely unhappy.

"Don't tell me when it's enough, Mortimer!" She was furious and quite oblivious to their audience.

"It was practically twenty years ago when we were together!" Mo insisted.

"Then it shouldn't be a big deal and you can just tell me about her." Resa retorted, looking at him crossly.

"Please just let it go..." he pleaded with her.

_He_ was aware of their audience and he was extremely uncomfortable with these men hearing so much of his private life. He completely forgot about the men standing around them though, when Resa's next few sentences caught him off guard.

"Why won't you tell me, Mortimer? What is it? What is so goddamn secret that you can't even tell me one thing about the mother of your child! I mean it's not like you're in love with her, right?"

She had said the last part as an offhanded remark but when she said it, Mo froze and stared at her. She herself, froze and stared back at him.

"Mortimer?"

He remained silent. She looked him straight in the eyes.

"You don't..love her, do you?" She asked him softly, her voice barely a whisper.

Mo turned away from her, toward Capricorn, so he could walk away. "Resa, stop it."

She quickly moved to stop him and stood in front of Mo, once again upset.

"Just tell me. Do you love her?" She shouted angrily.

Mo looked away from her, his eyes staring past her towards Capricorn and the others, but he barely saw them. Resa placed a hand under his chin and turned his head so that they were gazing into each others' eyes. Her anger gone for the moment, she once again asked him the same question.

"Do you love her?"

Mo said nothing. The silence lasted for what seemed like a lifetime before he finally answered her.

"Yes."

Resa's expression was one of pain and shock. Mo couldn't stand to see her looking like that. How could he explain that he loved Lynne but not in the way that he loved Resa. With Resa, he was _in_ love with her. He had to try to explain it to her. He had to make her understand because he couldn't live without Resa, not again.

"Yes, I do but-"

Mo had barely started his explanation when she cut him off with a hard slap across his face. He turned his head back to her and she slapped him again. Slowly, he once again looked back at her expecting to be hit, but this time her hands were at her sides. She stared at him with so much hurt in her eyes and it was killing him that he had done that to her.

"Mortimer..you..will never come near me again. I'm taking Meggie with me and you will not attempt to see her. You will stay away, is that understood?"

Mo stared at her in stunned horror as her words reached him. She couldn't mean them, could she?

"Goodbye Mortimer.." she whispered.

Mo heard the sound of something metal dropping to the floor and then rolling until it thudded and hit something solid, his shoe. It was Resa's wedding ring. He picked it up and wanted to say something, anything, to make her take back what she'd said. But she was already going through the doors. Dustfinger watched Resa go and then turned back to Mo who had yet to move.

"Well? Go after her!" Dustfinger urged him.

"No."

"No? How can you say that? She's going to take Meggie with her!"

Mo stared at the ring in his hand. "She's right. I lied to her. Resa deserves someone better than me."

Surprisingly, Capricorn spoke next. "What I can't understand, is you can't tell a single lie, Silvertongue. You're an awful liar. So how come you were so good at this lie?"

Mo slowly turned to meet the evil man's gaze but it was Elanora who answered.

"Because this lie he hardly believes himself." Elanora said, turning away from the window. "I suppose it would be hard to tell anyone that he has another daughter and that said daughter is a demi-god."

"You're a what?" Basta blurted out.

"A demi-god. Half human, half god. Something that comes with slower aging and some amazing skills." Elanora informed them. "My mother, Lynne as you know her, is a goddess. The goddess of love and beauty to be exact. But she went and did something she wasn't allowed to do and for that she became mortal. Still a goddess, but now she can die."

Mo looked at Elanora. "Five years ago when she told me all this..when she told me why she had disappeared and why she never told me about you because of what she was, a goddess. She never told me why she lost her immortality. It probably didn't help that I didn't believe her..but still..."

Elanora looked hard at him. "Because goddess's of love are to find a mortal and reproduce. But she did what she was never allowed to do. She fell in love with you."


	4. First Attack

_**First Attack**_

There was a long moment of silence before anyone said anything again after Elanora's confession that her mother was a goddess of all things, and had fallen in love with Mo, the gift of immortality taken from her because of it.

"Mo..." Elanora started.

He had yet to move from his spot near the center of the room. His gaze still glued to the doors as if Resa might come back.

"Go on Elanora, why don't you explain to us what exactly the situation is that has brought you here." Mo finally suggested to her.

He pocketed his wife's ring and turned his attention on Elanora. Everyone else gathered, did the same.

"My mom-or rather Lynne, has been taken. As soon as I found out she was gone I knew that you were the next step. That they were all going to come after you." Elanora explained.

Mo held up a hand to stop her. "Who's all going to come after me? One of the men who was looking for you..he said there were probably others, but why? Why is everyone after me all of a sudden? And what do you mean Lynne's been taken?"

Elanora rolled her eyes at him. "Mo, ears, use them."

Mo looked absolutely mortified that he'd been told off by a teenager but Capricorn's men seemed to find it quite humorous. Elanora followed that by giving him a stern look and then continued.

"There's a man out there that has been killing all those with the same gift as yours. You see, he too, has the ability to read characters out of books and he learned long ago that if he killed others of his kind, in return he would be able to become immortal as long as his powers lasted."

This time it was Capricorn who interrupted. "How do you know this man has achieved immortality? What proof is there of this?"

"Well I'd say I'm pretty sure, taking into account the man is 20 years old." Elanora replied.

When Capricorn and the others still seemed unimpressed, she added, "Oh, and he was still 20 a good thousand years ago."

Everyone seemed impressed then, but Basta still questioned. "You weren't alive a thousand years ago so how do you know this man was in fact alive then?"

"Because Lynne was immortal, don't you remember? She's a goddess. She only became mortal around 20 years or so ago. Lynne was around when he was and she sort of knew him. Everyone kinda did."

Realizing she was going to need to tell another story, Elanora took a deep breath before continuing on.

"The man who's doing all this..his name is Baralei. He was quite well known a thousand years ago because the young woman that was his lover was a famous singer. She sang all over the world and he was always with her. But then she died..the circumstances of her death were never revealed. Some believed she wasn't even dead, that she had simply run off with Baralei. There was never actually a body, everyone was just told that she was dead. But one thing that was for certain..after she vanished no one could ever remember seeing Baralei again either. And now he's back and he wants people like you dead, Mo. I don't know why, but I know a girl who I think is connected to all this. I don't know how or anything, but my mother gave me her name and told me to protect her. That she would know how to stop Baralei."

"What made you come after me now? What made you so certain he was going to kill me next?" Mo asked, still trying to understand everything she had said.

"Well, after I found Darius dead-"

Mo seemed shocked and some of Capricorn's men showed their own surprise by this as well.

"Darius is dead?" Mo questioned, still stunned.

Elanora nodded. "Yes..it looked as though a sword had cut him apart..well anyways, I knew that you two had met so I figured it was only a matter of time before he found you next."

Mo frowned inwardly. Darius had been staying with Elinor ever since the incident with the Shadow, and Farid had been there visiting the two of them for a little while. He hoped the two were all right.

Capricorn spoke up. "If this Baralei is immortal, how do you intend we stop him?"

"Mo, what are you doing?" Elanora asked suddenly.

They all followed her gaze. Mo was walking over to the white wall near the window Elanora had been staring out of. He seemed almost mesmerized by the wall and he didn't look away when he answered.

"I don't know..I just have this feeling I'm supposed to do something..does anyone have something I can write with?"

Elanora stared at him, clearly with no idea what he was up to, before handing him a pencil she'd seen lying on the table nearby. He took it and turned back to the wall. Capricorn rose from his seat and started over to him. Basta followed close behind and Dustfinger came over as well.

"Are you intending to write on my wall? I'd rather you use paper." Capricorn informed Mo.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing..I think-" Mo abruptly went silent as his eyes suddenly turned to white.

Dustfinger startled. "Whoa, what's happened to your eyes Mo?"

Mo seemed unable to hear though as he had begun madly drawing lines on the wall and soon it became apparent he was drawing a picture. After a few minutes he was done and his eyes returned to normal. Mo seemed dazed and he shook his head.

"Wh-what just happened?" He asked uncertainly.

"Your eyes got all white and blank and you drew that picture on the wall." Dustfinger told him.

They all looked upon the wall. Mo had drawn a picture of a young man and woman with astonishing detail. They stood close together holding each other. The young woman was looking up at the man with an expression of concern and sadness. She had long hair that fell down her back and it appeared as though she was quite beautiful. The young man that held her had hair that spiked downwards and he was looking down at the woman. His face was mostly overshadowed by his hair, leaving only the lower part of his face to be seen. It looked as though he may have been saying something to the woman. His lips were turned upwards as well in what might have been a slight smile. It seemed obvious by the drawing, that the two were lovers.

"It's them." Elanora stated, peering at the sketch with interest. "Baralei and the famous singer, Lenne."

"Lenne..?" Mo pondered.

"How did you do that, Silvertongue?" Dustfinger asked him, looking quite amazed and impressed.

Mo stared at the sketch he had just done without knowing it and shook his head.

"I have no idea."

"I think we should find the girl my mother mentioned." Elanora suggested. "She's a popular singer in-"

Elanora was cut off by the sound of someone laughing. It was coming from the courtyard outside and echoed up to them. Mo stepped over to the window and looked out. There was something outside..It wore a suit of metal with four metal tentacle-like arms attached to a helmet it wore. It hoisted itself up by the arms and walked so that it was up in the air and the tentacles walked across the ground. The thing continued to laugh and as it got closer Mo realized it was a woman. She wore some sort of metal suit that shaped perfectly around her body and a mask that covered her face. Electricity coursed through her body and she laughed out loud again. Her laugh sounded eerie, almost like insanity itself might sound. The laughing woman looked straight up at the window and she seemed to spot him because she then proceeded to call out to him, her voice ghastly. It was as though she was still laughing as she spoke out.

"Siiilvertooongue! Wha ha ha haaa.." she cackled.

Mo's eyes widened as she sprang forward and landed on the side of the building. She started to climb up towards the window and Mo stumbled back as he realized she was moving quite quickly. No sooner had he stepped back, did she come crashing through the window. She fell flat on her face but then her mechanical arms instantly sprang to life, picking her up into the air. The mask she wore gave her no face but she turned her head at Mo who stood almost directly in front of her and she began to laugh again. Capricorn and the others stared at her with a mixture of curiosity and caution. They had never seen something like this. Mo himself, had never seen something like this before either.

"Everyone's always so serious..people should smile more, people should fill the air with laughter!" She began to laugh.

"My name is Laughing Octopus. I'm always laughing! Isn't everything all just so fucking hilarious!" She added and the insane laughing began again.

"So come Silvertongue..let your final moments be filled with laughter!"

As the woman said these words, she whipped out a metal arm at him. His eyes widened and he dodged it narrowly by throwing himself to the left, away from the others. By Capricorn's orders, his men opened fire on the woman. Some of the bullets hit her but she barely seemed to feel them. She just laughed maniacally as if she were unaffected and continued her attacks on Mo. The men kept shooting at her and Mo managed to get behind the firing men to temporary safety beside Dustfinger and Capricorn. Laughing Octopus picked up one of the shooters with her tentacles and threw him into the wall. One of the shots seemed to have hit a critical point or weak spot because she fell back and the sound that echoed from her was almost like a growl of annoyance. A thick cloud of black smoke billowed out and for a moment they couldn't see anything.

Finally the smoke cleared enough for them to see and the tentacled woman was gone. Instead, on the floor near the door was his wife, Resa. Mo stared at his wife in surprise. She was lying in a pool of blood.

"Help me..I'm hurt..why did you leave me, Silvertongue...please.." she moaned weakly.

"Resa!"

Mo called out to her and immediately hurried to help her. He was nearly there when a thought occurred to him and he stopped short. She was still a few feet away.

Dustfinger looked at Mo with confusion in his expression. "Mo, what's wrong?"

He couldn't understand why Mo wasn't helping his wife most likely. Dustfinger was ignored by Mo, now staring hard at the woman on the floor.

"You're not Resa. She would never call me Silvertongue."

Mo concluded confidently, holding a cold gaze to the woman who appeared to be his wife. At first Resa looked up at him weakly, wounded and scared. When she saw that he wasn't buying it, she immediately cackled and the illusion of his wife disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Laughing Octopus stood in the illusion's place and she extended a metal hand towards him with such speed that he didn't have time to move out of its way. It latched around his neck and hoisted him up into the air. He struggled to break free with little luck and he was having difficulty breathing as the metal closed around his windpipe.

"Your end is almost here, Silvertongue..laugh and be free." Laughing Octopus rasped to him.

Then she let out a surge of electricity that visibly engulfed Mo's entire body. He screamed in agony as the power surge shocked him, causing excruciating pain.

"Mo! Catch!"

As the electricity surged through him and the pain caused him to feel numb all over, Mo heard Elanora's voice and out of the corner of his eye he saw a glimmer of metal. He turned his head as far as he could in her direction and reached out his hand, catching the object which turned out to be a sword. Without even thinking, he plunged the sword into her stomach. Immediately the metal arm released his throat and he dropped to the ground. Laughing Octopus fell back with a screech of pain and stumbled away from him. She pulled the sword out of her stomach and tossed it away. The woman teetered from side to side, and continued laughing even though it was clear she was hurting. Then the head piece that the tentacles were attached to, dropped off of her and onto the floor. She tore off her mask and they were surprised at what they saw. Laughing Octopus looked completely normal. She had very bright blonde hair cut boyishly short, and soft blue eyes. The young woman was actually rather pretty as well. She didn't seem to even see Mo anymore as she stumbled forward sporadically.

"I am an octopus..as an octopus I have no control over my tentacles.."

She said this seemingly to no one in particular. The woman then pitched forward and fell to the floor. With a choking gasp, she coughed and some kind of black liquid spewed out of her mouth. As she did this she laughed hysterically. Mo couldn't understand, she was constantly laughing. Laughing Octopus was getting back onto her feet. She wiped the black liquid from her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Laughing..I'm always laughing." She shook her head, still staring into space at nothing. "I shouldn't laugh..I never should have laughed..it was wrong...I'm always laughing.."

For the first time she wasn't laughing anymore. Her eyes were filled with terror and grief.

"Always laughing..." she whispered and stumbled forward, falling to the ground.

She ceased to move again and Mo leaned down to examine her face. Her eyes were opened wide in a look of fright and sadness but they were glazed over.

"She's dead." Mo informed everyone.

He stepped back and frowned, placing a hand to his head.

"Who was that?" Dustfinger asked wonderingly.

Elanora leaned down close to the dead woman and placed a hand on her forehead before closing her eyes. After a moment she opened her eyes and stood back up.

"Her story is quite sad. She was a child growing up in a small fishing village famous for the octopus they would catch there. The village was attacked by a cult one day because they disapproved of the octopus killings. They burned down the village and gathered up the survivors, then forced one of the children to do what they wanted."

Elanora lowered her gaze to the deceased woman. "They forced her to torture and kill the survivors, including her family, and they made her laugh while she did it."

Mo stared in horror at Elanora. He was truly appalled by the story. Most of Capricorn's men looked rather uncomfortable as well. They had all done terrible things, but nothing as twisted as that.

"Well..it seems she could not escape her past even in another world." Elanora said sympathetically.

Dustfinger's eyes grew wide. "Wait, are you saying she's not from this world? Is she from a book?"

Elanora nodded. "That's right. I can read into people's very souls if there is no resistance. Most of the time, people have up a natural guard that doesn't allow me to read anything about them. But I was able to read everything out of her. Very sad, but then..there are so many terrible things that happen."

She went to pick up the sword and began to clean the blood from it. When she was finished, she strode over to Mo and handed it to him after carefully sheathing it.

"You should hold onto this. It's called a katana. I have a feeling you're going to need it. We all know who read that character out of her book. She even spoke your name."

"That's not my name." Mo retorted.

He hated that everybody seemed to know him as Silvertongue, except for his family of course. Maybe he would just have to get used to it. She nodded as if she were listening but he could tell her mind was elsewhere. Mo reluctantly took the sword from her and for a moment he looked it over. The sword seemed to make his headache worse. He couldn't understand what was going on. The strange feelings that swept through him when he touched the sword made him uncomfortable. It felt like he was missing something, like there was some memory that he should be remembering but didn't. Mo quickly switched his thoughts over to his parents, which wasn't a very comfortable thing for him either. He had chosen to go his own path in life and his father hadn't liked that very much. It may have seemed terrible but he was sort of relieved that he hadn't seen his parents much in the last few years. They only ever criticized whatever he wanted or whatever he chose to do. He realized Elanora was still talking and so he shoved the thoughts of his parents into the back of his mind and listened.

"Good, seeing as we're all together on this. We'll leave at once. We need to find that girl." Elanora finished.

As they all started to file out of the room, Mo hesitated and looked back at the picture he had drawn on Capricorn's wall. Somehow, he had a feeling it was extremely important. He gazed at the young man and woman, and the expression on the woman's face. He wished he knew more about them, about what was going on. Mo knew they were all counting on him to be the one to come through in the end. Even Capricorn. As much as the man liked to be in charge, even he knew that whatever was happening was far above him. Mo sighed and started to follow the others out the doors. If only he knew more about Baralei..he felt that he could end this whole mess...


	5. The Singer

_**The Singer**_

It took a long time to drive to the city where the girl Elanora's mother had mentioned lived. The city was large, with tall building that reached high into the sky. Capricorn, his men, and Dustfinger were all shocked by such strange looking buildings. They'd seen large castles and such but never tall building shaped so strangely, so rectangularly and with so many windows. Beside the large crowded city was the ocean. The beach was packed with people relaxing on the sand or swimming in the large body of water. Elanora didn't know where the girl lived, but she did know what school she attended.

The group stood staring at the high school they were in front of. They looked like an exceptionally odd bunch, especially with Capricorn in his nice suit and his men in their black uniforms. School had been let out and as students made their way out of the building, many of them stared at the odd looking strangers that waited on the sidewalk.

"So how exactly are we going to find out which one is the girl we're looking for?" Mo questioned, staring hopelessly at the large number of children.

Elanora said nothing and instead scanned the area.

"_La..lalalalaa lala lala..lala la lala la la la..la la laaa.." _

Elanora smiled. "That's her."

The group migrated over to the large field near the school building where a small group of students were gathered on the bleachers. At first they went unnoticed because the students were completely enthralled by a girl who was singing to the rhythm of a young man playing a guitar. She sat on the step above him and he looked up at her as he played. The man's head was turned towards her as he played and all they could see was the back of his head and his spiky blonde hair. The girl had brown hair that was just above her shoulders and flipped outwards. One of her eyes was green and the other was blue. She was very pretty and a clearly talented singer. She smiled at the young man playing the guitar before she began to actually sing words out loud.

"_In your dreams, magical thoughts. All things are real, unless you dream they're not.. In your dreams, love is the plot, carried on wings of hope.. Each..of our souls..intertwine, when we do.. Instantly we see it, the time to grow and be it.. When everything is pinned on a hope.. Let rise, the dreams of your heart.. That innocent youth, careless and kind.. Free to roam the breeze in love. Only when two..brilliantly shine..as..one..."_

Finishing the last note, she leaned in close to the kid playing the guitar and they kissed. The crowd laughed and then cheered, clapping for the performance they had put on. Gradually the crowd began to disperse and a girl hollered out to the singer.

"See you tonight at the show Sophie!"

The singer smiled and waved at the girl. "Yeah, see you there!"

The singer, Sophie, turned back to the young man who was putting his guitar away.

"I'm so nervous..this is my first performance in front of so many people."

The guy laughed. "Sophie, you're a natural. You'll be just fine."

"Sophie?" Elanora called out to the girl.

The girl looked up from where she sat and smiled. She definitely liked to smile. Sophie noticed the rather large group of others with her and frowned slightly, the smile fading a little. The guy she was with, turned to follow her gaze and chuckled when he saw them all standing there.

"Um..wow, nice costumes?" He commented, grinning at them.

"Mo..." Dustfinger started.

"Yeah..I see it too. He looks just like Baralei.." Mo concluded, sounding amazed.

"Are you sure it's not him?" Flatnose asked, looking at the young man.

"It looks like him..but there's definitely differences.." Mo stated distantly.

He was having trouble concentrating. His head ached and it had been ever since he'd seen that sword and started carrying it around his waist. Mo couldn't for the life of him, figure out what was going on.

Dustfinger piped in. "The girl has a slight resemblance to that other girl as well..what's her name.."

Elanora nodded once before speaking. "Lenne. Yeah, she does look a lot like her too. Now I see why Lynne was interested in her."

Dustfinger noticed Mo rubbing his head with a slight frown and voiced his concern. "Everything okay?"

Mo nodded slightly without looking at him. "Yeah, my head hurts, that's all."

He felt Dustfinger's eyes linger on him for a few moments more but then the guy with Sophie spoke to them and he turned away to better pay attention.

"Are you guys carrying guns? Um..that's just a little illegal.." the guy informed them.

He looked at them incredulously, like he couldn't believe how strange this group was.

Sophie gave him a gentle smile, placing her hand over his. "Travis, why don't you go to the car. I'll meet you there."

Travis continued to stare at the bizarre sight in front of him. "Sophie, do you know these people?"

She removed her hand from his. "Travis, just go."

Reluctantly, he turned and headed down the bleacher steps with the guitar in hand. He glanced back at the odd looking group one last time before leaving, heading across the yard. Sophie grabbed her backpack off of the bench and came down the metal steps to the ground. 

"You know, he _is_ right about the guns." Sophie commented.

Capricorn was having none of it. "We're keeping the guns."

Sophie looked at him. "Fine, just be careful."

Her eyes scanned the others in the group and she stared in amazement at Mo.

"Whoa..you're real. That's..wow, that woman was telling the truth."

Mo didn't understand. "What?"

Elanora had questions of her own. "My mother? Lynne?"

"Yeah, that's right. The woman came to see me, said her name was Lynne. She told me I had some sort of meaning to something bad that was going to happen. Somehow she knew about the dream I had of you, Silvertongue. The one where I was standing by the ocean and saw you die."

Mo swallowed hard and pretended as if he hadn't heard her. "So what do you have to do with all this?"

Sophie looked back at him. "I don't dream like other people. When I dream, I dream of the past. And sometimes, I dream of the future."

"Now, Silvertongue.." Sophie started to say to him before he quickly interrupted.

"Mo. It's Mo."

"Oh, sorry. Mo, since you have the gift and so does your daughter..well I just wanted to know if your parents also have the gift. Because Lynne told me they were killing people with the gift..so maybe we should go see your parents or you could call them?"

"My parents? No, out of the question. So anyways-"

Elanora was suddenly in complete agreement with the other girl. "I think she's right. Don't worry, I'll contact them."

Mo grinded down on his teeth, attempting to mask his frustration. "Don't do that, Elanora. My parents don't have any special gift, trust me."

Elanora wasn't really listening. "Don't worry about it. I'll handle it." She sounded firm.

"Elanora-" Mo started to protest.

"So yeah..well I have to go then. Travis is waiting for me."

"Sophie, you're not going anywhere. My mother asked me to protect you and that's what I'm going to do."

"You can protect me all you want but you can wait until after the show. I have to perform tonight, you guys will just have to come to the show and after that I'm yours to protect. That's just how it's going to be."

With that, the girl turned and swiftly walked away. Elanora watched her go and then pulled out a cell phone. She started dialing and walked away, talking low into the mouthpiece. Mo stood there with Capricorn and the others, not sure of what he was supposed to do. He couldn't understand how he was supposed to help anyone. Dustfinger came to stand beside Mo once again.

"Are you afraid?" Dustfinger asked Mo quietly.

"Of what?"

"The girl said that you were going to die. Doesn't that scare you?"

Mo met his gaze. "I guess it's how you felt when you learned that you died at the end of your story. The future isn't written into stone. I can change it."

Dustfinger noticed Mo's head still seemed to be bothering him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mo insisted, sounding like he wanted the matter dropped immediately.

He lowered his hand from his head as if to prove he was fine. Dustfinger seemed like he was going to say something else but then one of Capricorn's men spoke up.

"I've never seen a storm move so quickly!" Flatnose exclaimed.

All eyes went to the sky. Elanora had finished her call and she too stared upwards, watching the dark clouds move closer until soon the entire sky was filled with them. No sooner had the clouds come in, the rain began to poor down.

"Sad..so sad.." A man's voice came from within the storm.

A man's form began to appear in the rain. He literally floated in the air, staring at them all. His skin was see-through. He wore what looked to be military clothes and had glasses as well. His hair was combed back and his gloved hands reached out for Mo.

"I..am, The Sorrow..everything is so..sad. There's so much sorrow..I can see..all the lives you've ended. There were so many..Such sorrow.."

Mo was appalled. He hadn't the slightest idea what the man was talking about. He had never killed anyone.

Mo started to step back, away from the man. The man reached, once more, towards Mo. Then with a howl of sadness he dove through Mo's body and out the other side, disappearing into the stormy sky once more. Mo looked himself over as if there should be something wrong with him but he was okay and his expression was one of relief. Mere minutes later, the darkened sky disappeared and the clear blue afternoon sky replaced it once again.

"Lets just pretend that didn't happen..whatever that was." Mo said.

Elanora seemed concerned. "Baralei is reading far too many characters out of books. At this rate..I don't know what could happen if he keeps this up."

The sound of a girl screaming drew everyone's attention. Mo exhaled tiredly. "Now what?"

Elanora's eyes searched outwards for the source of the scream. "I think it's coming from inside the building!"

She took off running towards the sound and Mo ran after her, the others following after them. Once inside the school it wasn't hard to follow the screams. Panicked students and teachers ran past them, all trying to get outside as fast as they could. A group ran past their own and they overheard the kids talking to each other.

"Who is that guy? A terrorist?"

"All I know is he kept screaming that he was going to blow the whole building if some guy named Silverfist or Silver..Silvertongue! If Silvertongue didn't come soon."

Dustfinger and Mo meet each others' gazes. Another person after him? How many of them were there? Elanora led them into the gym and they immediately noticed the group of high school kids sitting in the corner of the room. A man stood with his back to Mo and the others, watching the students to make sure they didn't run away. In one of his hands was a small sword, almost like a longer knife. Mo grabbed his head again when he saw the sword in the man's hand. It hurt so bad. He wanted to know why these kinds of weapons were having such an effect on him. Elanora noticed him this time.

"Mo, is everything all right?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Lets worry about this guy."

The man keeping the students in the corner wore a long coat that went past his knees. He turned when he heard them enter. He had black hair, parted down the middle, and blue eyes. He was tall and wore clothes of all black under the coat. When he saw Mo among the group, he smiled.

"I'll take those strange contraptions in your hands. Weapons of some kind I'm sure," he said to them.

Capricorn's men made no move to drop their weapons and the man's smile dropped.

"I don't like to kill innocent people but I will do what I must."

He grabbed the arm of a girl who screamed when she was grabbed, but who immediately quieted once he placed the blade of the sword to her throat.

"Weapons."

Mo looked concerned, completely forgetting about his headache. When Capricorn still made no move to give the order he glared at him.

"Capricorn! Give him the guns."

Capricorn gave him a look that clearly showed he did not want to do so but finally sighed and conceded.

"Fine, throw your guns to him." Capricorn commanded of his men.

Once all of the weapons were left in the middle of the gym, the man released the girl and she ran back into the corner, crying. He picked something up from behind the bleacher seats. It was a can of gasoline.

"I must admit..this world is quite fascinating," the man said to them as he started to pour the gasoline all over the guns. "But I have no interest in these so called modern weapons."

He dropped the gasoline can and struck a match. "Really, there's no honor."

He dropped the match onto the pile of weapons and it instantly ignited. As the weapons burned, he walked past the pile and took in the group. His eyes only found interest in Mo.

"Silvertongue, I've been told to kill you."


	6. Known and Unknown Abilities

_**Known and Unknown Abilities**_

"_Silvertongue, I've been told to kill you."_

Somehow, Mortimer wasn't surprised in the least to hear another say such a thing to him, so he shrugged. "That seems to be the popular consensus."

Elanora suddenly interrupted. "So what book did you come from?"

"_Meiji Era_. The one who read me out showed me."

Shooting pain suddenly coursed through his head. Mo drew in a sharp intake of breath from the pain.

Dustfinger's eyes tried to seek out Mo's own. "Silvertongue? What is it?"

"I don't know..I don't know what this is..."

The man frowned at Mo. "Is there something wrong with you?"

The headache seemed to have passed and he began to realize that everyone was staring at him. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. He tried to focus on the man across from him, ignoring the others' gazes.

"So who are you and why do you want to kill me?" Mo asked, disheartened by the sight of another person who wanted him dead.

"I am Aoshi. I will kill you, because I owe it for being read out of the book. Though I do not much care for this world, the reader took the time to bring me here. So lets make this quick. I will kill you and then go home."

Mo looked at Capricorn. "Now see, he felt he owed the man who brought him out of the book. Why can't you be like that for me?"

Capricorn looked at him. "You didn't read me out this time, Silvertongue. As for the first time, you can consider me not locking you up and forcing you to read for me as the favor."

"Yeah, thanks." Mo commented, rolling his eyes. "Wait..where did Elanora go?"

For the first time, he noticed she was no longer in the gym.

"I brought you something to wear for our battle. You must be dressed appropriately, in the proper kimono."

Aoshi pointed to a folded up pair of light blue clothes seated on the bleachers. Mo barely glanced at the clothes before he shook his head.

"Do we really have to fight? I mean..can't you just..not do this?"Mo said, trying to reason with the man.

The man did not seem at all amused by Mo's poor attempt at avoiding the fight.

"If you would prefer I kill your friends instead..."

With the threat now directed at the others, Mo's eyes narrowed. Raw emotions flooded through him that almost felt familiar to him,though he couldn't fathom how..and he suddenly knew that he could fight this man. He didn't know if he could even stand a chance at winning but he knew that he had the basic knowledge of how to use the sword. Mo didn't have the slightest idea as to how he could possibly know how to use a sword, he just did.

Mo stepped away from the others, removing his jacket and tossing it onto the floor. He wore the sheathed sword tied around his waist and he drew the sword from its sheath as he moved away from the others.

"Leave them alone. If you want to kill me so bad then fine, but you won't hurt any of these people."

Aoshi nodded. "Agreed."

"Silvertongue what are you doing?" Dustfinger inquired. "You don't know how to use a sword."

Mo looked at him. "I didn't think I could use this either but suddenly I know that I can."

Dustfinger stared at him hard. "What? You're not making any sense. You're telling me that you think you can use a sword but you're not sure?"

"That's right." Mo replied.

Capricorn showed he cared too, in his own way of course. "Perhaps you shouldn't do this, Silvertongue. You are still useful to me and I'd rather you didn't get yourself killed."

At that moment Aoshi started to rush at him and so Mo had to quickly turn around to face his attacker. Mo lifted his sword and Aoshi attacked him with the short blade again and again in rapid succession. Mo blocked very well, making it clear that this wasn't the first time he had picked up a blade even though Mo was almost positive he had never held a sword before. Aoshi was fighting him effortlessly though and as Mo blocked each attack, he realized that Aoshi was too fast. His opponent was attacking him so quickly that Mo didn't have time to attack back at all and finally an attack hit Mo. The smaller sword slashed across his arm, drawing blood. Startled at the pain, Mo stepped away from Aoshi and clutched his arm. He didn't have time to worry though because Aoshi was once more on the offense. Still unable to do anything but block, Aoshi slashed Mo across the upper thigh and then drew the blade across Mo's face.

Mo clenched his teeth, holding in any sound he would have made because of the pain and instead replaced it with anger. He placed a hand to his face, feeling the fresh cut that had been made across his cheek. His fingers came away with blood and he looked up at his opponent, his eyes angry. Aoshi simply looked smug.

"How disappointing, I had hoped someone of your reputation would be more of an adversary. Seijiro told me you reached the rank of Hitokiri Battousai by the age of eleven. Perhaps he thought too much of his student."

Mo's eyes clouded in confusion. "What? Hitokiri what?"

"Hitokiri Battousi, or rather, master assassin. Seijiro informed me that you yourself defeated the twelve remaining bandits of the original fifteen. But I think that Seijiro is mistaken. You are no Battousai, let alone a swordsman. You're just a man. A man that's going to die at the hands of a true warrior. That, at least, should leave your name with honor."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never used a sword in my life."

Aoshi raised an eyebrow at him. "If you had never used a katana before, you would not still be alive now."

Mo shifted his stance uncomfortably. "I don't get it either okay. I just picked up the sword and knew I could use it."

"Perhaps you've lost your way. Tell me, what's the last memory you have, Silvertongue?"

Mo stared at him for the longest time and then his face filled with disbelief. "I..I remember being fourteen..and my parents and I had just moved. At least I think we had just moved because my parents bought me all new things..why can't I remember anything before that?"

Mo looked horrified by this realization and Aoshi continued to look at the distraught man before him.

"How well do you really know yourself? It's a shame that I have to kill you before you can finally learn the truth about your past."

Then Aoshi attacked again and this time Mo blocked and then hit him in the chin with the handle of his katana. Aoshi seemed surprised as he stepped back, clutching his chin.

"How did you..?" Aoshi started to ask before he noticed Mo's bleeding hand.

Mo was holding his sword by the blade, causing his hand to be badly cut.

Mo explained his choice simply. "With your blade being smaller like that, you were much quicker than me. There was no way I could attack as long as my blade continued to be longer, so I shortened it."

Capricorn and his men looked impressed.

Dustfinger seemed amazed. "And you've never used a sword before?" He asked in disbelief.

Before Mo could say anything, Aoshi began to speak again.

"I see. You truly are Seijiro's student. But I have an attack that no one has ever survived and you will be no different than all the others."

Aoshi's voice began to grow calm and slow. "As I said before, no one has survived my ultimate attack."

Aoshi placed his sword at chest level, horizontally and then as he talked, he began to shift around where Mo stood. Mo and the others stared incredulously at the sight. Aoshi's figure appeared on Mo's right, and then he was behind him, and then to the left, and then in front of him. Mo was confused. Aoshi was disappearing as fast as he appeared. Then, Aoshi was reappearing so quickly that he now appeared to be standing on all sides of Mo but in continuous motion.

"You cannot even fathom how this attack works. Prepare for your death, Silvertongue."

As Aoshi said these last words, Mo tried to determine which one of the illusions was actually his opponent. Mo stepped back as Aoshi struck three times, slashing horizontally each time. Then Aoshi jumped away from Mo as fast as he had attacked and lowered his sword.

Dustfinger and the others moved their eyes from Aoshi to Mo. It seemed Aoshi had missed Mo and yet Mo stood staring at Aoshi with that serious gaze. Then Mo's eyes widened and three red lines appeared through his blue shirt and then the shirt ripped in three places and blood burst from the gouges in his chest. Looking stunned, Mo dropped face down onto the floor, blood pooling around him, eyes closing.

"You killed him!" Dustfinger cried, looking infuriated.

Aoshi seemed unaffected by the anger and calmly met the man's gaze. "I killed him as I told you I would."

Capricorn seemed especially upset by this turn of events. "Quite inconvenient, he was of use to me."

Dustfinger rounded on the man. "Capricorn! He was the one who was supposed to stop Baralei. Now what are we going to do?!"

Capricorn seemed to realize this was true and his eyes darkened. Silvertongue's death may very well mean the death of them all. Dustfinger returned his anger to Silvertongue's killer.

"I'll kill you for this!"

Capricorn was with Dustfinger now apparently. "Slit this man's throat, Basta. He has taken Silvertongue from us."

Basta looked a little nervous to be taking on Aoshi but he pulled out his knife anyways. He edged towards Aoshi who watched him with a trace of a smile on his face.

"Do you really think you can kill me?" He asked Basta, who froze upon being spoken to.

"He won't have to."

Aoshi's eyes widened in surprise as they shifted to the one who had spoken. Mo was getting to his feet, pulling himself up by his katana. He stood tall and answered the question that was in all of their eyes. He lifted up his left hand. In his hand was his sword's sheath. He exerted a small amount of force, pushing the sheath with his thumb and the sheath broke into four pieces. Aoshi covered his amazement and narrowed his eyes into their usual cool exterior.

"You used your sheath to shield the brunt of the attack. Impressive, but now you don't have your sheath anymore. I congratulate you on surviving my ultimate attack. You are the first one to have done so. But I doubt you can survive it twice."

Aoshi began to revolve around Mo. His image appearing all around once again so that it was impossible to determine which one was really him. This time, Mo stood perfectly still and watched Aoshi carefully as the illusions moved around him. Aoshi smirked, he seemed to think Mo was giving up. The attack came and Mo took a step to his left, brought his sword up, and slammed it into Aoshi's throat.

Eyes bulging in shock and pain, Aoshi stumbled back clutching his throat and gagging. He lowered his head to the left and blood flowed from his mouth onto the floor. Mo went to the others and turned, standing there calmly as he watched Aoshi hacking up the blood.

"When you use that attack, there's a moment when you switch from defense to offense that leaves you vulnerable to attack."

Aoshi straightened himself back up and glared scathingly at Mo. His fist tightened around his sword and he took a step closer to them. But as soon as he did he seemed to have overexerted himself because with a labored breath he toppled over, his eyes closed tight. Mo finally allowed himself to relax his grip on his own sword and put a hand over his slightly bleeding chest. There were three shallow cuts but still pretty serious.

Elanora came running into the room and when she saw Aoshi unconscious on the floor, her eyes sought out Mo. She took in his sword, the broken sheath, and his wounds, becoming aware of what had taken place.

"Mom said you were a bookbinder..."

Mo glanced her way. "I am."

"You sure that's all you are?" Inquired Elanora.

"I don't know anymore."

Elanora shook off her surprise to get to what she'd returned with. "Well here, I brought the book. Found it in the library."

Elanora tossed him the book and Mo caught it, glancing at the cover. It read _Meiji Era_ on the front in bold lettering. Mo flipped it open and started thumbing through the pages of the book with his free hand, the sword still in his other. He searched, finally stopping at a page that had Aoshi's name written on it and began to read.

"_Aoshi took Megumi up to the highest floor and handed the weeping woman a dagger. He coldly informed the distraught captive that she had a choice. She could take her own life or prepare for greater suffering later when she would be tortured. Aoshi then made his way to the floor below and waited for the man he had been wanting to battle for a long time."_

As Mo reached that point, Aoshi's form disappeared in a wisp of dust. His weapon and blood disappeared along with him. Mo stopped reading and closed the book.

"You're hurt." Elanora said to Mo and approached him.

Mo shrugged. "I'll survive."

Elanora placed a hand on his chest. "Hold still."

She closed her eyes and a green light emanated from her hand. Before their eyes, the slashes on his chest disappeared and after a moment, so did the cuts on his arm, leg, hand, and cheek. Elanora lowered her hand and Mo stared at her, looking stunned.

"Comes with the demi-god status."

Dustfinger smiled a small little smile. "As long as Elanora's around, you don't have to worry about dying, Silvertongue."

Elanora smiled at that. Meanwhile, Mo looked down at his bloody clothing and then turned to where the man had left a pair of folded up clothes. He walked over and examined them. It was Japanese style clothing. A kimono, as Aoshi had called it. It basically was a light blue shirt fashioned like a robe and the pants were so baggy they almost looked like a skirt except they reached his feet. Mo sighed.

"Great, I'm going to look like a walking samurai."

Dustfinger's smile grew. "Regardless of what you're wearing, I'm sure we're still going to get plenty of stares because of these guys."

Dustfinger pointed a thumb towards Capricorn's men and even Mo had to laugh at that.


	7. Family

_**Family**_

After Mo put on the kimono, they went to the theater where Sophie would be performing later that night. They had no other place to go. Mo was feeling awkward in his new attire but no one else seemed to notice. Elanora had found him a new sheath out of nowhere and as she handed it to him, he suddenly recalled when she had suddenly found him a sword that afternoon when he had fought Laughing Octopus.

"Wait a minute, where did you get this? And where did you get the sword in the first place?" He asked her.

"Comes with the demi-god status," was all Elanora said.

"You keep saying that..." murmured Mo.

Sophie had been sitting in a chair on the stage talking with Travis when she noticed the large, odd-looking group enter. It would have been hard not to notice. The theater was empty since the performance wasn't to begin for several more hours and the girl actually seemed grateful that they were there. She excused herself from Travis and came down the stage and over to them as they approached.

"I'm so glad you're here. Those two have been complaining nonstop about how this theater is too dusty and how it's not sufficient enough to host me. They even tried to get me to let them find a more "suitable" place for me to sing. Please, just get them out of here."

Mo was puzzled. "What are you talking about? Who.."

Mo trailed off when he heard voices coming from the back of the theater.

"Honestly, that restroom was atrocious. Simply abominable! You know, I've probably contracted a virus. This place should be shut down immediately!"

A woman's high-pitched whining voice echoed and grew louder as she entered the theater from the back. She wore expensive looking clothes and the man with her wore an extremely fancy black dress suit. The woman walked with her nose upturned in a snotty manner.

Elanora shifted in place. "Sorry Mo, I called them and they wouldn't even hear what I had to say. As soon as I mentioned your name they insisted I tell them where you were..."

Capricorn did not see who these people were. "And they would be..?"

Mo sighed as the older man and woman reached them. "I don't know these people," he muttered.

Unfortunately the man and woman were within earshot and the woman seemed appalled at Mo's words.

"Don't know us?!" The woman screeched at Mo. "Honestly Mortimer, the least you can do is acknowledge your parents!"

This drew a smile to Capricorn's face and his henchmen chuckled. Dustfinger himself even smiled slightly and Elanora looked apologetically at him.

"Okay fine. Mom, relax."

"Relax!" His mother yelled, pointing a finger at his chest and poking him hard again and again.

"Mortimer Folchart don't you tell me to relax!"

Mo's face was turning beet red in his embarrassment as his mother raged on with everyone witnessing it.

"How long has it been, hm? How long has it been since you bothered to come see your father and I?"

"Um..I don't-"

His mother interrupted. "Eleven years! Eleven! Are you that ashamed of us Mortimer? Do you loath us so much?"

Then for the first time she seemed to notice his new outfit, the kimono. Her nose wrinkled up in disgust.

"And what is that you're wearing? How distasteful. Really, are you so poor you must dress like that? I've offered again and again for you to take some of our money. We have more than enough, but no, you're too proud aren't you! Stubborn child."

"Mom you're overreacting just-"

Once again she cut him off. "Where's that wife of yours? And your daughter?"

She looked around at them as if perhaps his family was hiding among them.

"I cannot believe I haven't seen my grandchild since she was a baby! Now she's all grown up and I've missed it all. How dare you rob me of that Mortimer. I never had a chance to get to know her, to see her grow up."

"Oh Emily, shut up," the man with her finally spoke up.

The woman seemed shocked by what he had said. Her mouth opened and closed as she stared at her husband in disbelief. The man ignored her floundering state of being and looked at his son.

"Answer boy, who are these..associates of yours?" Mo's father asked him.

His father looked suspiciously at the group of men that were with Mo and then at Elanora and Sophie.

Mo ignored the question and instead asked his own. "Why are you here, dad?"

It was his father's turn to ignore his son. "Resa left you didn't she. I always told you that woman was no good for you. Marrying beneath yourself..are you trying to give your mother a heart attack, Mortimer?"

Mo looked like he was ready to explode at his parents and so Elanora quickly interceded.

"Mr. And Mrs. Folchart, I was the one who called you."

Mo's parents turned their eyes on her and instantly disapproval shone in their eyes.

"And just who are you, young lady?" Mo's dad questioned.

Mo's mom, Emily, questioned. "Is she your new girlfriend Mortimer? Like them even younger now?"

"Mom, no! She's 17!"

"Well I don't presume to know what you like anymore. You've already made it quite clear that you don't want us in your life."

"I can tell..your parents are keeping something from you."

All eyes went to the speaker of these words, Sophie.

That included Mo too. "What are you talking about?"

Elanora looked sharply at Sophie. "What makes you think you know something?"

Sophie narrowed her eyes at the girl. "What makes you think I don't?"

Elanora shrugged. "Well don't presume things. You'll only start more trouble."

Sophie gave her a slight smile. "I don't presume things. I have dreams and they are always true. What's the matter, Elanora? Are you afraid I'm going to tell Mo about your secret?"

Elanora and Sophie stared at each other. Mo stared from one to the other looking extremely confused.

"Okay, what's going on here? What do you know Sophie?"

"I'll tell him." Elanora informed Sophie reluctantly. "Mo..I wasn't completely honest with you before. Lynne and I both weren't."

Emily was frowning big time now. "Lynne? The Lynne you used to date, Mortimer? She was quite a lovely girl. I liked _her_."

Mo barely spared her a glance before returning his gaze to Elanora.

"You see..I'm not your only daughter besides Meggie."

Mo's parents looked shocked. "What is she talking about Mortimer?"

"I'll explain later," was all Mo said to them.

Emily started to snap back at him but her husband placed a hand on her arm and shook his head, signaling for her to be quiet.

"I have a twin sister, Elle. But I didn't tell you about her..because well, she's..let me put it this way. Compared to my sister, Capricorn is practically a lovable puppy."

Mo stared at her, clearly not understanding, so Elanora went on.

"One time..when we were both four..she killed our neighbor. She didn't like him because he had dogs that barked. I saw her do it. Elle walked over to the neighbor's front yard and snapped each of those dogs' necks as if they were mere twigs. Our neighbor came home and found the dogs dead. He knew Elle had done it because she was just standing there on the sidewalk staring at him as he discovered his dead pets with the most satisfied smile on her face. He started shouting at her, telling her that he was going to get the cops. He got in his truck and my sister lifted her hand and flipped his car three times."

"A four-year-old child flipped a car?" Mo asked.

Elanora nodded. "Part of her inherited gift as a demi-god..she has the ability to move the energy in the air around her. She can even fly."

Dustfinger seemed intrigued by all of this. "So do you have those powers?"

Elanora shook her head. "I can't fly but I can create force fields and heal others. We both are extremely skilled with bladed weapons and we can heal our own wounds quickly. Though, Elle can probably heal faster since she rarely uses her healing powers..but I can't be sure. We haven't seen each other for awhile. Anyways, I didn't want to mention her because I'm not positive that she's working with Baralei."

"I have a daughter..that is evil..and is working for the man we're trying to prevent from destroying the world?"

"I'm still not sure on that. I can't imagine Elle wanting to work for someone..but I suppose if this man has a plan that she likes well enough..it's possible."

Mo shook his head. "This is too much."

Sophie piped in. "Then maybe we shouldn't mention what your parents are keeping from you..."

Elanora looked like she wanted to smack the other girl upside the head for bringing the subject up again while Mo's parents were looking at each other worriedly. Clearly they had never wanted to tell whatever it was that they were keeping from him.

"I can't." Mo's mother said, placing a hand to her mouth as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

She rushed past Mo and the others and left the theater. Mo's dad started for the exit as well but before he went far, he paused and turned back to Mo.

"I'm sorry we never told you..Mortimer. You were adopted."

"What? You're not my real parents? I mean, my biological ones anyway?" Mo looked absolutely stunned and horrified.

His dad shook his head. "Your name is real, when we went to the agency, they informed us that your family had been killed when you were just a child and that your body hadn't been found so they had assumed you were dead like the rest. You were fourteen and you couldn't remember a thing about what had happened to you in all that time. We were grateful you couldn't remember, so we decided not to tell you. I'm sorry Mortimer."

Without another word, Mo's father turned and left the theater, leaving Mo in his shock and misery.

Sophie went onto the stage and nodded to Travis who was seated in a booth, ready to start the music on her command. Mo and the others stood a few yards away from the stage discussing the Baralei problem.

"There has to be some way to find him." Elanora figured out loud. "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. If we find my mom, we find Baralei."

Mo agreed. "Yeah, but how are we supposed to find her?"

Capricorn found the answer to be simple. "We find what he cares about most and take it. He'll come to us."

Mo frowned at the other. "Is that your solution for everything?"

"It worked with you, didn't it?" He retorted.

Elanora ignored the brief moment of tension between the two men. "Capricorn's right. But I don't know what it is that he cares about..."

Elanora seemed to be thinking it over when Sophie starting to practice for her performance. The music started, echoing throughout the theater and all eyes turned to watch her. The music started to play and her eyes were closed as she listened and let the sound surround her. But that was not what now drew in their attention. Behind her the curtain was disappearing. Travis and the sound booth disappeared and it was only Sophie, standing in what now was darkness. Mo and the others stared, looking around in shock.

Cockerell was staring at Mortimer however. "Silvertongue, what's happening to you?"

Mo looked down at himself. White beams of light were flowing out of him, floating towards the stage. Mo lifted his hands, wonder filling his gaze as more light came out of him. The beams of light mingled on the stage and then before their eyes they began to take form.

There was a farmhouse of some kind and then the image switched to inside the home to a bedroom. An image of Mo himself formed, before it shrank and in Mo's place was a young boy no older than six with his identical brown hair and deep blue eyes. Clearly this boy was Mo when he was a child. The boy crawled into the bed and a woman who couldn't have been much older than 30, sat in a chair beside the bed. It was his mother, she was reading him a story and the boy that was Mo, sat listening with wonder.

Sophie began to sing and they could hear her voice but all eyes were now on the images that had replaced the stage.

"_Turn around, and smell what you don't see. Close your eyes...it is so clear.." _

A woman's scream followed a man's shout. The woman stopped reading and looked terrified as she glanced towards the doorway.

"_Here's the mirror, behind there is a screen. On both ways you can get in."_

"Come on!" The woman cried, grabbing the boy's hand and pulling him off the bed.

She dropped the book onto the bed and it toppled off, falling face down onto the floor. The book's title reflected in the moonlight from the window. Meiji Era was printed neatly in bold letters. The image faded from the book to the fields outside now. Mo's mother pulled him along as they ran through the grassy meadow, away from the house which was on fire behind them. Behind the two of them were other children and a few adults also running away from the house looking terrified.

"_Don't think twice before you listen to your heart, Follow the trace, for a new start."_

The sounds of men laughing. Three men wearing dark colored kimonos had caught up to an adult male and two of the children. One of them ran past while the other two attacked the defenseless group, slashing until the kids and man lay on the ground, dead. Then they continued on. Mo's mother glanced back and saw what had happened to some of them and ran faster. Mo was little and he stumbled over his legs.

"Come on, Mo. We have to move faster!" She looked so frightened.

"Mommy who's chasing us?"

The six-year-old Mo asked as his mother pulled him back to his feet and the two began running again.

"Bandits," was all she said as she pulled him along and Mo said nothing more as he was too scared to.

More screaming from behind. The laughing and shouts from the men were getting closer.

"_What you need and everything you'll feel. Is just a question of the deal."_

Mo and his mother reached the hill and stopped short. Just beyond the hill, a fire roared in their path, barring their escape. Another woman nearly caught up to where they stood but then one of the bandits made it to her and with a single slash, she fell. A middle-aged man who had been with the woman when she was struck down stopped in his tracks and punched the bandit. He'd caught the man off guard and the man dropped his sword. While the two fist fought, Mo walked over to the sword which lay forgotten on the ground and picked it up. Glaring at the bandit he gripped the sword tightly, pointing it at the man as if he were going to attack him.

"_In the eye of storm you'll see a lonely dove." _

Mo's mother saw what her child was going to do and grabbed him. Surprised, the sword slipped from his grasp and his mother threw them both to the ground, shielding him with her body.

"Don't look Mo!"

But Mo watched anyways. His eyes wide as he peered through her arms and watched as farther down the field his family was being slaughtered, his home burning. The bandit close to them found his sword and struck down the man who had tried to stop him. The man had been Mo's uncle.

"_The experience of survival is the key, to the gravity of love."_

The bandit turned his gaze on the woman kneeling on the ground and grabbed her by the hair. She cried out from the pain of being picked up by the hair. As she was pulled away, the terrified boy stared with big eyes. Grinning, the bandit plunged his sword through Mo's mother's neck. She gave a gasp and started to bring her hands up as if to grip the sword, but then he pulled it out and dropped her to the ground. Mo stared in horror and fright as he met his mother's gaze. She lay there, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Mo..you have to live..Mo-"

She whispered weakly to him and was cut off abruptly as the man plunged his sword into her back and through her heart. Mo's mother gave a startled gasp and then went limp, her eyes still partly open but no longer seeing. Then the bandit turned towards the boy but Mo's eyes were still on his mother.

"Mom? Mommy..?"

A shout of surprise from behind. The man whipped around to face the opposite direction of the little boy. His two fellow bandits were being assaulted by a man wearing a large brown coat, underneath the coat he wore a dark blue kimono. The stranger cut them both down with his own sword and then proceeded towards the remaining bandit.

"Who are you?!" The bandit demanded.

The stranger replied calmly. "I don't introduce myself to the dead."

Angrily the bandit charged the stranger and he was cut several times. Mo watched wide eyed as the man exploded into blood and gore as the stranger ripped him into several pieces with his attack. Then the stranger left Mo sitting there on the ground to continue staring at the bodies of his family that littered the field. The images disappeared.

"_Try to think about it...That's the chance to live your life and discover. What it is, what's the gravity of love."_

The images revolved into the sun setting, a day had passed. The stranger had returned to the farm and he was walking into the field when he stopped short, his eyes opened wider, startled by the sight before him. There were graves everywhere with makeshift crosses as grave markers in front of every one of them. Standing in the midst of them was the boy he had left there the other night. He approached and stood slightly behind the boy.

"You buried even the bandits. Why? They murdered your loved ones."

Without turning, the boy answered. "Everyone deserves to be put to rest when they die."

"My name is Seijiro. Come with me if you want to learn how to protect the ones you love," the stranger told him.

"_Look around just people, can you hear their voice."_

The boy slowly turned around to look at the stranger. Then the image faded and now the boy was several years older and training. He ran at the stranger, Seijiro, with a katana but Seijiro easily deflected the attack and knocked the young Mo down.

Seijiro spoke to him. "Die and be free of pain..or live and fight your sorrow."

Determinedly, Mo got back to his feet and charged again, Seijiro smiling proudly. Then the image of the slightly older boy transferred into Mo a few years older than before. He now looked to be a year or two older than his own daughter Meggie was.

"_Find the one who'll guide you to the limits of your choice."_

A man that wore the same clothes as the bandits who had murdered his family those years ago was walking down the road of a town at night. The road was pretty much deserted and the man had several other men with him, carrying swords as well. It seemed he had recruited other men to join him after he had left the book. The teenage Mo came running out of the darkness and attacked, cutting one of the men down immediately. The others attempted to defend the man from the book, the bandit, and Mo took them all out. He slaughtered them all, his sword soaked in blood and his expression was completely cold and emotionless.

"_But if you're in the eye of storm, just think of the lonely dove."_

Instances of this continued, where the teenage Mo appeared and slaughtered many different groups of men until a time where Mo was knocked into a wall, causing him to fall off the roof of a building he had been running across. Before the bandit could kill him, Seijiro came out of where he'd been hidden in the darkness of another building and took out the remaining bandit and his men. Then he was carrying the unconscious teenage Mo through the streets of a city. People stared, but no one dared come near. Seijiro entered the hospital and then the image faded altogether as Sophie finished the song.

"_The experience of survival, is the key, to the gravity of love."_

Sophie opened her eyes and looked at them. "What's wrong? What is it?"

Everyone was staring at Mo.

"I remember it now..all of it," he murmured, more to himself than to anyone else.

Elanora stared hard at her father. "I'm sorry Mo. I had no idea."

Sophie looked completely lost. "Guys, what's going on?"


	8. The Song

_**The Song**_

Mo had gone outside to get some air. When the others told Sophie what happened during her song, she concluded that she would no longer be able to sing for the performance. Travis, who had also seen it all, wouldn't hear of it but when she still wouldn't budge on the song he came up with a suggestion.

"Sing a different song then. What's that one song you've been humming lately?"

"What? That song? Oh..I don't know..that song just recently came into my head and got stuck there. I don't really know where it came from.."

Travis gave her a small smile. "Well then it's perfect. No one has ever heard it before."

Sophie didn't seem quite sure about but with a little more prodding from Travis, she agreed to perform. Something seemed to have changed in Sophie. As soon as she agreed to perform, she excused herself from the group to be left alone in solitude.

Mo sat on the curb outside of the theater alone. There was a huge line of people waiting to get in to see Sophie's show and he'd made sure to sit far enough away from them so as not to be bothered. The crowd was loud and full of excitement and eager anticipation, but Mo felt none of it. He stared up at the moon in the sky and wished he were far away from this place. He was so tired of the surprises in his life. Mo had always cursed the day he had read out loud to his wife and daughter. He'd hated Capricorn, Basta, and Dustfinger for coming out of the book and causing his wife to go in. But now he knew that it hadn't started with him. His own mother had possessed the gift that he now had and because of it, she had gotten herself and his entire bloodline of family killed. He didn't blame her though. His mother hadn't known she had the gift until it was too late, just like Mo. But it frustrated him and he wondered if this meant his family was somehow cursed. He was so afraid that one day he'd slip up and read out loud or that his daughter would make the mistake and they would all pay dearly. The tears he'd tried so hard to keep in started to stream down his face.

"Silvertongue."

Mo jumped when someone said his name. He stood up and quickly tried to wipe the tears from his face before turning to face his visitor. Mo was very surprised by who it was. Capricorn stood a mere foot or so away, looking at him closely. Mo could tell that Capricorn could see he had been crying but the man said nothing about it.

"I'm truly sorry about what you went through."

Capricorn was clearly referring to Mo's, until recently, forgotten childhood trauma. Mo didn't know what to say to that. He had never heard Capricorn apologize to anyone in his life. When Capricorn acknowledged that Mo wasn't going to say anything, he turned to gaze up at the moon and continued.

"You've read _Inkheart_ so you know my past. It isn't easy growing up without parents. I know that I was the one who chose to live without my parents but I think my reasons aren't so different from yours. I was ashamed of what my parents were, yes, but I also felt that I was meant to be something more. More than just a nameless boy who didn't belong where he was told he did."

Capricorn returned his gaze to Mo who was looking at him in a somewhat puzzled manner.

"It seems that I underestimated your worth, just like you underestimated yourself. Things aren't always as they seem, Silvertongue. Maybe now that you know your true self, you can start to live again."

At first Mo didn't understand. He wasn't able to live his life because of this man. Because he had been after Mo for the last ten years. But then Mo thought harder about his entire life and some of the choices he had made. He had made them because he had felt as Capricorn had said. He'd felt he wasn't where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to do. Now, Mo was as sure as ever that he would be able to live his life. After all this was over he was going to get Resa to trust him again and then he would live his life with his family and treasure every moment with them.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked Capricorn.

"You may not like to hear this. But in there, for a moment I saw myself in you. Not the man that I've become, but the man that I used to be."

Mo was stunned by the confession.

"Mo, Capricorn."

The two men turned towards the entrance to the theater. The entire crowd had already been let into the theater and now it was just Elanora standing there.

"The show is about to start." Elanora informed them before disappearing back into the theater.

Capricorn immediately followed, and Mo, after pausing to glance at the moon one last time, also went into the theater. The three of them made their way through the crowd and back to the others who were still in the front. The crowd was loud with anticipation as everyone talked happily to one another. Capricorn's men looked completely out of place. Confusion as to why they were there seemed to be written on each of their faces. Also clear to be seen, was a look of somewhat gratefulness that all they had to do was stand and listen to a concert. Dustfinger seemed relieved when Mo finally reappeared in the theater, coming to stand by him but he frowned slightly when he saw that Capricorn had been with him. He seemed ready to voice his curiosity when suddenly the crowd began to hush. Sophie was walking out onto the stage, microphone in hand. Dustfinger squinted at the clothes she was now wearing. She wore a fancy purple shirt with a dark purple skirt and black boots.

"Those look like the clothes that woman was wearing in the picture you drew, Silvertongue."

"You're right. That _is _the exact outfit Lenne was wearing. But that was a thousand years ago. Where could she possibly have found those clothes?"

Elanora shrugged off the question. "Most things aren't coincidences. This one may be."

Their conversation was abruptly ended when Sophie began to speak and they all turned to listen to her.

"At first, I only decided to put on this concert because my friends told me I was great at singing, that I had a talent. But recent events have changed what this concert is all about. The world out there, is constantly changing. I know many find it difficult to keep up. So much happens and through the smiles, tears, through the anger, and the laughter that follows. Often times things happen..everyone has lost something precious at one time or another. Everyone here has lost homes, dreams, and friends..and with each loss, people are always saying..'We had no choice.' They're always saying, 'It was the only choice' Those seem to be our magic words. We repeat them to ourselves again and again. But you know..the magic never worked and the only thing we were left with was regret."

Everyone seemed to be entranced by Sophie's speech, by the truth in everything she was saying.

"I don't want friends to die..or fade away. I don't want battles where we have to lose in order to win. Working together...we can make new homes for ourselves, and new dreams. Although I know the journey will be hard, the road will always be there ahead of us. The things that have happened..there's a connection."

She looked meaningfully at each and every one of them: Capricorn, his men, Mo, Dustfinger, and Elanora.

"Everything is connected." Sophie continued. "I can feel it. Just..one more thing. The people and the friends that we have lost...or the dreams that have faded...never forget them."

Then Sophie nodded to Travis and the music started and after a few moments, she began to sing.

"_I know that you're hiding things, using gentle words to shelter me. Your words were like a dream..but dreams could never fool me. Not that easily.."_

A brief pause, then Sophie's beautiful voice filled the theater once again.

"_I acted so distant then, didn't say goodbye before you left. But I was listening. You fight your battles far from me, far too easily.."_

As Sophie sang that last sentence, identical beams of white light that had come from Mo when she had sang her last song, now came out of Sophie's outfit. The multiple beams of light mixed together and formed into a brightly lit city of tall buildings but they looked like no buildings Mo had ever seen. The buildings rushed past them and the crowd looked surprised and amazed. They seemed to think it was part of the show but Mo and the others knew better. This was a memory.

"_Save your tears, cause I'll come back. I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door. But still I swore, to hide the pain when I turned back the pages."_

The buildings stopped moving past and more white light came from Sophie's dress. The buildings disappeared and the new beams of light formed the image of a large rather menacing looking machine. A young man was standing there, staring up at the machine. Mo and the others instantly recognized this man, Baralei.

"_Shouting might have been the answer. What if I'd cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart?"_

As Sophie sang that last sentence, Baralei, still staring up at the machine, started towards it.

"_But now I'm not afraid, to say, what's in my heart."_

Sophie sang that last sentence and as she did, dozens of lights burst all over her and suddenly Sophie herself transformed into someone else. In Sophie's place was Lenne, singing the song that she had been singing. Mo and company looked absolutely stunned. They watched on in amazement as Lenne sang before them all.

"_Cause a thousand words, call out through the ages. They'll fly to you, even though we can't see. I know they're reaching you,"_

Baralei was on the machine now and he pushed his hands down on what looked to be some kind of control panel. As he did this, the machine came to life, lighting up, the center of it opening to reveal a circular plate with red lights. No sooner had he done this, Baralei seemed to hear something for he rushed to the edge of the machine and looked down. Lenne came running into the room, looking up at him. Her arms were outstretched and she seemed to be shouting a warning of some kind. Then she lowered her hands to her side and turned to look behind her, concern etched on her face.

"_Suspended on silver wings." _Lenne was singing in Sophie's place yet.._and_ was in the images with Baralei.

The images flashed to a hallway where around eight armed men, who appeared very much to be soldiers, were running down the hallway. Their footsteps thudded down the hall and each of them wore helmets and carried guns in their hands.

"_Oh a thousand words,"_

The images returned to where the machine was just as Baralei and Lenne were rushing into each other's arms. A bright light suddenly switched on, flooding the two lovers in the light.

"_One thousand embraces."_

When the light switched on, the footsteps drew closer and Baralei looked up as the soldiers came running into the room. He glared at them, looking very defiant.

"_Will cradle you. Making all of your weary days, seem far away."_

The soldiers filed into the room and assembled into a formation, four kneeling and four standing behind them. Their weapons made audible clicks as all of the soldiers trained their guns on the young man and woman standing under the bright light near the machine.

"_They'll hold you forever."_

Lenne paused from singing as the music continued. The images zeroed in on the two as Baralei shifted away from the soldiers and turned to the Lenne that he was holding. Lenne gazed up at him with worry and fear and she seemed to be searching his eyes. She seemed to see something that caused her own expression to sadden. Baralei returned her gaze, looking deep into her eyes and he spoke her name softly. The anger that he felt for the soldiers seemed to disappear and his eyes softened, a slight smile of comfort crossed his lips. Lenne seemed to find comfort in his gaze and her eyes lightened slightly as she returned a small smile.

Then the soldiers' guns went off. Baralei and Lenne both looked towards the soldiers and then flashes of Baralei activating the machine, then an image of him turning to look with a smile on his face, then an image of the gunshots, then an image of Lenne turning and smiling, an image of Lenne and Baralei holding each other, and then the gunshots, and as if in slow motion..slamming into the young lovers and they fell away from each other to the ground. Baralei fell on his stomach and Lenne fell onto her back.

Then Sophie was back, but beside her Lenne was still there. Lenne was singing a line and then Sophie would sing the next one, except it didn't look like either woman had any knowledge that the other was there.

"_Oh a thousand words." _Lenne sang. _"A thousand." _Sang Sophie.

Lenne: _"Never been spoken. _Sophie: "_Oh yeah."_

Lenne: _"They'll fly to you." _Sophie:_ "They'll carry you on." _

Then the two of them sang together. _"Carry you into my arms."_

The images shifted to Baralei who reached weakly for Lenne as he lay dying. Lenne stared back at him as she lay on her back. She was nearly dead already and she could only move her fingers slightly, trying to reach for his hand. A single tear fell from her eye and it fell across her nose and other eye, hitting the ground.

Sophie: _"Suspended on silver wings." _Lenne: _"Oh On silver wings."_

Sophie:_ "And a thousand words." _Lenne: _"Ooohh." _

Sophie: _"Called out through the ages." _Lenne: _"Called through the ages."_

Sophie: _"They'll cradle you." _Lenne: _"Ooohh."_

Sophie: _"Turning all of the lonely years to only days." _

As Sophie sang this line, Lenne turned and for the first time, seemed to actually look directly at her. Almost giving her a humble look, Lenne closed her eyes, sang one last line, and began to fade.

Lenne: _"Only days."_

As Lenne began to fade, Sophie looked out at the audience and sang.

"_They'll hold you forever."_

With that line, all of the images vanished and it was only Sophie on the stage as she finished her song.

"_Oh. A thousand words..."_

Finished with her song, Sophie opened her eyes and looked sadly out at the crowd. Then a tear fell down her cheek and she fell to her hands and knees on the stage. Immediately Elanora rushed onto the stage and knelt beside her. The crowd looked confused and then, seeming to think it had been part of the show, they started to clap and cheer. Elanora helped Sophie to her feet and started to lead her behind the stage. When she was nearly there, Travis came rushing over with worry written all over his face.

When Travis managed to get rid of the crowd, the theater was once again only with Mo and company, and of course Travis and Sophie. Elanora told Sophie everything the crowd had seen and when Sophie finally managed to calm herself, she explained what had happened to her.

"When I was singing, it was like I could feel everything Lenne had felt that night. I could feel all of her emotions and now I think I know why Baralei is still here. Lenne never got to tell Baralei how she felt.."

Sophie needed to rest and the remainder of them still didn't know how to go about stopping Baralei from his plan. It didn't help that they didn't have the slightest idea where he even was. So they all decided to spend the night at the theater. Early in the morning Mo was already awake and trying to figure out how to find Baralei. If there was a way they could somehow bring Lenne out again like when she'd come during Sophie's performance..then maybe they could use her to get Baralei out from wherever he was hiding. They'd had no luck figuring out how to do that since Sophie was positive that she wouldn't be able to get the response because it had been Lenne that put that song in her head in the first place. And so as morning became afternoon, they were no farther in figuring out what to do. At one point, Sophie and Mo went off into a quiet corner of the room and spoke to each other in hushed tones. Capricorn was the only one who noticed them go off by themselves and he stared in their direction curiously as everyone else continued to discuss how best to stop Baralei.

Mo said something to Sophie which immediately made her look horrified and she shook her head rapidly, but then Mo added something to his previous words and she stopped. She listened as he continued to speak to her and then she seemed very hesitant before replying back to him. Capricorn wished he knew what they were saying but it was impossible to hear them from this distance. After exchanging a few more words, Sophie walked away from him looking worried. Capricorn watched Mo retrieve Elanora from the group and he was now talking with her quietly. She listened to him solemnly and when he was finished saying what he had to say, she said something back to him and Capricorn distinctly saw his mouth moving to say two words, "thank you". Then Mo turned and exited the theater, Elanora leaving with him.


	9. The Dead Man

_**The Dead Man**_

Mo came back into the theater with Elanora, looking like he had the world on his shoulders. No one else seemed to notice this and so he nonchalantly went to stand on the stage where most of the others were now gathered, still discussing what they thought they should do next. Dustfinger was telling everyone that it was hopeless, that they were never going to find Baralei unless he wanted to be found. Mo had to admit Dustfinger had a point and was going to say as much but then he noticed something, or rather a certain someone...

"Uh guys.." Mo started.

He pointed slowly towards the other side of the stage. Out of the darkness stepped Baralei. Small bits of the white light were moving around him in wisps.

"That stuff is coming out of him. Why is that?" Questioned Dustfinger.

Elanora seemed to think she knew. "This time it doesn't have to do with a memory..I think it's because he's dead."

Basta fingered a bag hung around his neck, looking a tad fearful. "If he's dead than why is he walking around?"

Mo thought he had it figured out now. "He's been going out of his way to kill people like me, the ones with the gift. But maybe we got it all wrong. Maybe he isn't killing them because they're the ones who can stop him. Maybe he's killing them because he's using their life to keep himself alive..or at least physically here in this world."

Elanora shook her head in disagreement. "No, that's not possible. Unless.."

She trailed off and Capricorn gave her a look. "Unless what?"

"Unless a god or even a half-god made a deal with him. Blood sacrifices of ones with his power in exchange for prolonged life. Elle.."

Elanora seemed certain now that her twin sister was involved in all of this. Baralei walked across the stage but he didn't seem to notice any of the others. His eyes were only on Sophie. He stopped in the middle of the stage.

"Lenne...I heard your voice in the darkness."

Sophie stared at him, startled. "He thinks I'm Lenne," she whispered to the others. "Maybe I can convince him to stop what he's doing."

Before any of them could protest, she took a few steps towards him hesitantly and then stopped. The two were only a few feet from each other. Baralei smiled slightly before returning to his serious gaze.

"Lenne...we died together, but when I awoke...I was alone. I looked for you, for...so long...but while I searched I realized something. The world hasn't really changed at all. People are still fighting over nothing, still dying like they used to. A thousand years have passed, and I can't leave the hatred behind."

Baralei clenched his fists and moved closer to Sophie.

"But I have something that will make it all go away. I don't have that machine anymore but now I have something better. And when I make it go away..then, we'll fade away...together. Help me do it, Lenne..."

Baralei extended a hand out towards Sophie, signifying that he wanted her to come with him, to take his hand. Sophie shrank back and Baralei's eyes narrowed. He peered closely at her, searching her face and then his own face contorted into anger.

"You are not Lenne!" He shouted infuriated.

Then as if for the first time, his eyes seemed to take in the others that stood behind her. Baralei's eyes found Mo.

"You tried to trick me!" Baralei declared.

He stepped back as more and more of the light flooded from him, looking slightly weakened.

"Lasko!"

A man with spiky silver hair and gray eyes came from the entrance. The man wore a black leather outfit with gloves.

"Master," was all he said in response.

"Slit the prisoner's throat. My life is fading." Baralei ordered.

The man, Lasko, nodded and left the room again. Baralei turned his gaze to Elanora.

"Your sister is demanding more and more sacrifice. I can hardly survive much longer like this. There are only so many of these special people out there."

After a few moments, the white light vanished from around Baralei and he no longer seemed to be fading. Baralei seemed refreshed and a small smile crossed his lips before disappearing again. Then he turned his eyes to Mo once again.

"There is a castle that has appeared down the street. I read it there just for you. I have had your wife and daughter taken there."

"What?!"

Baralei answered him. "The men I have read out of the book with the castle, they have been given orders to kill every last one of you. But one of them, Shishio, wishes to fight you one on one first. Then when he has killed you, he will dispose of your family and your other allies."

Mo's blood ran cold when he heard Baralei utter the man's name, Shishio. Mo knew that name. He knew it and wished that he were wrong but his instincts told him better. He'd become a fast and skilled reader as a child because his mother had read to him often and left so many books lying around the house. He'd often read to himself from the Meiji Era book because he knew there were parts in it his mother never would read to him because they were too "scary" for a child. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and he'd started to read the book. He'd read about a man named Shishio who was practically a shadow in the night. He was a born killer, an assassin working for one side in the war, who enjoyed what he did. He became so dangerous that his allies realized they couldn't risk having him around and so they tried to kill him. They had failed though, and he'd recovered and started up his own army, seeking to overthrow the new and unstable government that was built in the aftermath of the war.

Mo broke from his thoughts when Baralei turned and started to walk away. When he was off the stage, he looked at Mo once more.

"There's something about you that I feel is different then those other gifted readers. I can't wait to see how much life your death will bring me. And then soon, the goddess will awaken and this whole world will die."

With those words resting on them, Baralei left the theater.

The group rushed to find where this Shishio man was waiting with Mo's family. Sophie insisted on coming and Travis wasn't going to let her go without him so they all went. It didn't take long to find the vast castle that had literally sprung up in the middle of a street. Looking around, Elanora became concerned.

"Where is everyone?"

Mo worried greatly. "You don't think..you don't think because he's been reading things out of books so much lately that the price to do so has increased.."

"I think the whole city of people are gone!" Gasped Sophie.

Travis had turned his attention elsewhere, squinting off into the distance. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but do those remains of buildings behind that big tall one look a little out of place?"

Travis was pointing in the opposite direction of the castle, into the heart of the city. He was right. Just past some of the taller buildings there were a set of ruins of some kind.

"Baralei said that he was making his preparations to awaken the goddess." Capricorn mentioned. "Perhaps that is where he has taken her."

Mo agreed quickly. He wanted to get this moving. "That sounds very possible, but we have to save Resa and Meggie first!"

Elanora tried to slow his fear down. "No one's saying we shouldn't. Come on, lets go."

They ran the whole way to the castle and when they got to the front entryway, a woman was waiting for them. She wore a casual white dress and was very beautiful. Her hair was pulled in a neat bun and she wore dark lipstick and eyeshadow. She smiled at them as she saw the rather large group approach.

"I'm sorry, I believe the invitation was only for one," she told them.

"We're all going." Capricorn informed her coldly.

The young woman shrugged. "Very well, but the fight is only between Lord Shishio and the one known as Silvertongue. My Lord is fascinated by the tales he has heard of this man known as the Battousai or slayer."

Mo was surprised that they knew of him and once again he felt the cold fear run through his veins.

"I have heard of this Shishio. Why does he want to fight me?" Mo asked the woman.

"Because you were an assassin like he was. A very skilled one or so the rumors have been saying. Ever since my Lord was forced into..early retirement, he has made it a hobby of his to battle legendary swordsmen. You may have been in this world when you killed the twelve remaining bandits, but you played an important role in helping the government he fought for win," the woman explained.

"But he hates the government that won the war." Mo said frowning as he remembered that detail from the book.

She smiled. "That's correct. So you can imagine, he isn't too pleased with you for helping them win."

"But he fought for that government! How can he blame me for anything to do with that world?"

The woman gazed at Mo with renewed interest, impressed that he knew so much about her Lord.

"My Lord fights bravely and he will kill you because it is part of his mission to destroy anything of that government that betrayed him. When he takes over, he will do great things."

The woman seemed to think so highly of Shishio. Did she even know of the things he'd done? Did she care?

"Now come, my Lord is quite eager to meet you. My name is Yumi by the way and I will guide you to the rooftop. It is where Lord Shishio awaits."

The woman disappeared into the castle, clearly expecting them to follow. Before he did, Mo turned around to face Elanora.

"Elanora, this man Shishio is a legendary assassin that is extremely dangerous. Perhaps in my past life as that swordsman she mentioned, I may have been able to stop him. But I won't become that killer. Those times have come back to me and I don't want to be that murderer ever again. If I don't stop him though, he'll kill all of you without even blinking. So you need to hurry, Elanora."

The young girl listened to him as he told her all this and she realized what he wanted her to do.

"The book, Meiji Era..The school is on the other side of town. I will go as fast as I can." Elanora told Mo.

Sophie and Travis offered to go with her, hoping that would make it go faster and the three took off running away from the castle. The group watched them go.

"If that man is as dangerous as you claim, how are you going to stop him?" Capricorn questioned.

Mo looked straight at him. "I'll have to hope I can win."

"But Elanora, she'll bring the book. She'll be back in time." Dustfinger stated.

He seemed to be looking for Mo to show some sign that he was right but Mo remained solemn. Mo didn't seem so sure that he could win this fight.

Several minutes later the group reached the stone roof of the castle. There were walls on all sides, and flames burned on the tops of the walls. Yumi stood by the doorway watching Mo with intrigue. Standing in the very center of the room was a man covered head to toe in bandages. His entire face was covered by the bandages except for his lips and eyes. The skin that was visible on his face, was darkened. He wore a purple robe and boots. Sheathed at his side was a sword and his dark brown eyes glinted with the color of red. To the man's right, in the far corner, a rather large group of men stood there. Most of them wore black kimonos but some of them were dressed in red ninja-like clothing. All of the men had hoods and cloth covering most of their faces. There were a total of three of them in the red clothing and these ones wore masks over their faces but no hoods. Beyond some of the black robed men, were Resa and Meggie.

Resa sat with her back against the stone wall and Meggie sat beside her. Meggie's head lay on her mother's shoulder and she seemed tired but as soon as she saw Mo she jumped to her feet.

"Mo!" She called out to him with a smile but then the smile dropped.

"You shouldn't have come, that bad man said he's going to kill you!" Meggie warned him, looking fearful.

The man covered in bandages, smiled at the child's words.

"Your daughter should learn when to bite her tongue. Most assuredly when I am finished with you, I will personally cut it out for her." Shishio said the words shrewdly.

Meggie shrank back into her mother's arms at the man's promise and Resa glared at him angrily.

"Shishio, I'm here. Now let my family go." Mo insisted, his tone demanding.

Shishio laughed. His laugh unsettled Mo's very heart. "Your family is fine where they are."

His eyes shifted to the woman in the white dress.

"Yumi, I asked you to bring Silvertongue and Silvertongue alone."

She lowered her head slightly in shame, her face heating up.

"I'm sorry my Lord. They insisted on coming but I informed them that the fight was between you and Silvertongue."

Shishio looked the men over that stood with Mo.

"Very well. Having an audience should make things interesting." He gestured towards Mo. "Shall we begin?"


	10. Hate

_**Hate**_

Mo stepped away from the others, now being dressed in the sky blue kimono seemed appropriate. All of Shishio's men were dressed similarly except their clothes were darker. Absently, Mo scratched his chest nervously. The kimono shirt he wore hung rather low, revealing part of his chest and it just felt foreign. Mo made no move for his weapon as he stared at Shishio.

"I read a little about you but I never got to the part of why you decided to try and overthrow the government. Why are you? And what changed you? You used to fight for the government you now hate."

The man said nothing at first, staring back at Mo with his strangely red eyes.

"I once fought for a side in the war. I believed in what they believed and I did as I was ordered. But they decided I was too dangerous, too much of a liability. My own allies turned on me. They riddled my body with bullets before setting me on fire. But they failed to kill me and I learned valuable lessons that day."

Shishio lifted an arm, staring at the bandages that covered every inch of it.

"If you trust, you will be betrayed. If you are careless, you will die. Those lessons have served me well these past few years."

"That's no way to live! Not everyone is like that. Just because those men did that to you doesn't mean everyone's like that. This world is a good place! The world you come from, there are good people there too! I read about the good things they did, the lives they saved." Mo argued.

Shishio didn't seem to hear Mo's words or he chose to ignore them because he continued his story as he lowered his arm and returned his gaze to Mo.

"Even though I was set on fire and left for dead several years ago, my entire body continues to burn. And of course," Shishio pointed to his head. "Here as well."

He lowered his hand to his side once again. "So my voice became pure heat, without a trace of coolness. And one day I began to speak the truth. Man's nature is violence, and this world is Hell."

Mo stared at him incredulously. "There are good people out there! And even those that may seem terrible at first, there's good in them too!"

Capricorn turned his eyes on Mo, wondering if Mo could possibly be meaning him and his men. Capricorn's men seemed to think so. They were exchanging looks of uncertainty with one another and Dustfinger as well. Even Resa was looking at Mo with what could only be described as awe. She was getting the distinct feeling that Mo was forgiving Capricorn and his men for the terrible things they had done. He was forgiving Dustfinger as well, for his betrayals and Resa realized she had never been more proud of her husband than at that very moment.

Shishio gave Mo that eerie smile of his. "I believe this is Hell...while these men of violence wash away blood with blood crawl upon this world, is it not suitable to call it Hell?"

Mo said nothing, meeting Shishio's eyes with complete seriousness. After a moment he motioned and three of the men in black outfits came forward.

"A man like you isn't worthy of being my opponent." Shishio said. "Kill Silvertongue. It should be easy since he no longer believes in the old ways."

"That's right, Shishio. I don't and I won't kill anyone."

Shishio looked at him with amusement. "Kill or be killed."

The three black-clothed soldiers drew nearer and Mo unsheathed his sword in time to clash with the first of the soldiers. He would fight but he wouldn't kill them. He refused to become what he'd been as a child. Mo shoved his blade against the soldier's, pushing him back so he could block the attack of the second one. He roundhouse kicked this one before spinning to slash the third soldier as the man attacked. Mo then proceeded to block the first soldier's second attack. The second one came up behind him, preparing to sneak attack him and Mo seemed to take no notice as he was busy counterattacking the first soldier. But then he slashed his sword across the man's chest, flipped his sword the opposite way and jabbed it behind him, taking out the one trying to blitz attack him. The third man was still standing there shakily, as if confused as to how he had been struck. He finally fell backwards to the ground shortly after the other two collapsed, causing all three to fall almost in unison.

Mo stood facing Capricorn, Dustfinger, and the others as the soldiers dropped, blade held horizontally at eye level. All of them looked astonished at his skill with the blade. Honestly, Mo hadn't realized he could still fight this well. It had been so long since he'd truly used his skills. Mo probably would have shown his surprise if he hadn't realized how deadly serious the situation really was. He turned back to face Shishio as the man began to clap. He was smiling, his expression bore amusement.

"Well done, well done. And you even defeated them without severely wounding a single one. You really do want to stick to your no killing rule."

Shishio stopped clapping and lowered his hands to his sides.

"But those were mere pawns. Lets see how you fair against my better men. Balsheik!"

Shishio called out the name without taking his eyes from Mo.

One of the red clothed soldiers stepped towards him, his face was covered like the others but the ones in red wore nothing to conceal anything above the nose so he was distinguishable by his bald head. That, and the fact he was wielding a rather large steel axe. This broad shouldered man was Balsheik apparently. Even though Mo couldn't see his lips, through the thin cloth he could tell they were upturned in a grin. The man pulled the axe over his shoulder and charged at him. Mo prepared to dodge him and he leapt easily out of the way but then felt a sharp pain in his chest. He stumbled and dropped to one knee, lowering his gaze to his chest. There was a dart that had pierced his upper-right chest, near the shoulder. A second man in red, this one with shaggy hair that fell over a headband he wore, stood on the other side of the room. When Mo's eyes found him, he smiled. This man had thrown the dart.

"Cheap shot! That's not fair!" He heard Dustfinger shouting indignantly.

For a moment his sight went hazy and Mo wondered what it had done to him. But he didn't have time to think as the axe man came at him again. He yanked the dart from his chest and tossed the bloody stick to the floor, standing and lifting his sword to clash with the axe. Balsheik shoved his axe against Mo's sword and the weight of it caused Mo to be shoved backwards. He flew back several feet and his back slammed into the wall on the left. As he hit the wall, a sharp set of claws gouged into his right shoulder from above. He was too shocked to make any sound and he grabbed his shoulder, looking for any sign of where the attack had come from. A very small red clothed man was sitting directly above him on the wall. He swung away from him as Mo's eyes found him and then Mo remembered Balsheik.

He looked in front of him just in time to duck as the man swung his axe at him. The axe struck the wall, and Mo used this time to duck underneath Balsheik. He turned his upper body as he ran under him and slashed his blade across the man's back. As the sword struck him, Mo pushed on the hilt of the sword, shoving it further into the man. The man fell swiftly, dropping the heavy weapon. The man's wound was deep but Mo had made sure to avoid any critical parts. The red soldier wearing the headband was running towards him now, sword poised to strike. Mo readied himself and out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement above him. The small man wearing the clawed glove was reaching down the wall to attack again. Thinking quickly he let his shoulder drop, the claw missed and Mo jabbed the katana through the man's claw hand. The man shrieked and pulled back, leaping away from him and scurrying across the roof. The headband wearing man swung to attack, missed, and brought his sword down to strike again. He was still smiling when he stopped bringing the sword down because there was a deep pain in his chest. His smile dropped as he lowered his gaze and found his opponent's sword thrust through his shoulder.

Mo pulled the sword out and the man faltered, turning away from him. He stumbled a few feet and finally collapsed to the ground. He heard a shout of warning from Cockerell. Mo fixed his eyes ahead of him and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. He stared up numbly as the small man leapt off the wall to his left, with a bomb cradled in his mauled hand. He swung down to land in front of Mo just as it exploded. The man was killed instantly and Mo flew into the wall that was behind Capricorn and the others, collapsing onto his side. Slowly, Mo got back onto his feet and walked through the group, back to the center of the roof.

Blood ran down the side of his head, his right eye was swollen shut, and blood trailed down his right shoulder. He held the sword limply at his side and Shishio simply smiled at him.

"Can't you see? You must become the killer you were all those years ago if you are to defeat me." Shishio told him.

When Mo said nothing in reply he spoke again. "Very well. Embrace your death."

He didn't even draw a weapon as he beckoned for Mo to attack him. Mo just stood there, staring blankly at him. He was hurt, tired, and emotionally distraught over his wife and daughter being held hostage by this mad man. He didn't want to fight. He just wanted to take his family home and keep them safe.

It seemed he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Shishio raced forward and so Mo did the same, running towards him. He was no longer at full strength and his swings with his weapon were wild. Shishio easily jumped back from the sword each time and on the third swing, he actually grabbed Mo's arm. He yanked Mo's arm out of the way and punched him in the face before backhanding him across the cheek and then punching him again. Mo fell back, nearly falling, and managed to keep his balance by throwing himself into another attack at Shishio.

Shishio blocked with his black glove that seemed to be made of some sort of thick leather. He lashed out with his foot, striking Mo in the chest and Mo twisted and fell to the ground. He slowly got up and charged Shishio again. Shishio sidestepped the attack, landing a kick into Mo's leg. Mo lost his balance and fell. He started to pull himself to his feet and Shishio brought his arm down on Mo's back. He then pulled Mo up by the shirt collar and landed a punch to his face. As Mo started to fall, Shishio tightened his grip on Mo's shirt and landed several blows into his chest and stomach before sending the injured man flying back with a roundhouse kick. Mo hit the ground with such force that he rolled several times and finally stopped a few yards from Capricorn and the others.

For a moment he just laid there, staring at nothing. Slowly Mo lifted his one good eye and he searched the faces of people that had been his enemies only hours before, but for them he was now fighting. It didn't make sense to him, he just knew it was the right thing to do. They actually looked worried, staring at him. He locked eyes with Capricorn and even though he knew Capricorn was a murderer, he saw something else there. Capricorn was also a person and he had good in him. Everyone did and they deserved to live no matter what. The decision was made. He would finish this.

Mo slowly struggled to his feet. The task obviously weighed heavily on him. He turned to fully face Shishio once again and attacked. He was determined to see this through. Shishio merely smiled and the look in his eyes caused Mo's mind to start screaming warnings but it was too late. Shishio stepped back, Mo's attack missed, and he grabbed Mo up by the neck, yanking him off his feet. Shishio had his fist clenched so tightly around Mo's neck that he couldn't do anything but try to pry at the man's fist with his free hand.

With his one hand still closed tightly around Mo's throat, he pulled Mo closer to him, yanked the left shoulder of Mo's shirt open, and bit down. His teeth clamped onto Mo's shoulder and the teeth sank deep into the skin. Mo was so stunned and in pain that his eyes bulged as he gasped out loud in agony. Shishio lifted his head and tossed Mo away from him with a satisfied smile. Mo landed on his back near Capricorn's feet and he ceased to move. His eyes were open but only the whites of his eyes could be seen. He had been so traumatized by the act and the pain that he had fallen unconscious.

Shishio stared at his opponent's limp and beaten form. Mo's blood ran down his lips and he spat a piece of flesh out onto the ground. He licked his lips and smiled broadly. Then he did something most unexpected. He began to laugh maniacally. His eyes wide with madness.

"Silvertongue's right. You are insane." Capricorn pointed out, looking visibly angry.

Shishio finished laughing and lowered his gaze to Capricorn.

"In this world the flesh of the weak is the food of the strong," he told Capricorn matter-of-factly.

The man was still smiling when Meggie appeared in front of him, screaming at Shishio and angrily beating her fists against his stomach repeatedly. Shishio's smile disappeared and he merely looked down at her with as much interest as a fly is to a human. The punches did not seem to be harming him in the least and after a moment, he caught one of Meggie's fists and tightened his grip, beginning to squeeze. Meggie cried out in pain, and tears streamed down her cheeks as the man crushed her fist. Resa was yelling at the men who were restraining her as she tried to get to her daughter. The loud sound of bones breaking resounded throughout the room and this time the others were not going to just stand there.

"Leave her alone! She's just a child you bastard!" Dustfinger yelled at him.

Dustfinger started towards him and Shishio released his grip on Meggie's fist and shoved her away. She tripped over herself and fell to the ground weeping. Dustfinger hurried to Meggie and helped her back onto her feet. She held the wrist of her obviously broken left hand as tears continued to stream down her face.

"Go over by Capricorn and his men. Trust me, its okay." Dustfinger told her and she nodded, walking over to the other men.

He then turned back around and glared at Shishio. "What do you want?"

"To watch you all die," he replied simply before adding, "I suppose I should start killing each of you now..."

Dustfinger swallowed hard. He knew this man could kill them all easily and it scared him quite a bit. Dustfinger saw Shishio's hand reaching for his sword which still rested in its sheath.

"Shishio.."

Shishio paused when he heard Mo's voice speak his name. His eyes shifted to his fallen opponent who was now struggling to stand. Mo visibly trembled as he used his sword to push himself up to a shaky stance. He was disheveled, his shirt had fallen off his shoulders from the multiple tears, and hung around his waist. Blood trailed from both shoulders, the one eye was swollen shut, his lip was cut, and blood ran down the side of his head.

"Shishio, leave them alone," he demanded, fixing his eyes upon him. "You haven't beaten me yet."

Shishio smiled and his hand went back to his side. Dustfinger retreated back to where Mo stood, in front of Capricorn and his men.

"Are you okay?" Dustfinger asked him.

Mo nodded to him but his eyes were frozen on Shishio. Dustfinger hesitated, peering further into Mo's eyes.

"Silvertongue, I don't like what I see in your eyes. Don't listen to him. Don't become the killer you used to be."

Mo said nothing. His eyes seemed so distant. Like nothing else existed but him and Shishio. Though his wounds must have been painful, he seemed to be ignoring them completely. Shishio looked at Mo and with a smirk, he spread his arms out.

"Well come on then, attack."

Mo did attack and his speed was astonishing. Shishio barely had time to pull his katana from his sheath to block and he looked surprised. He wasn't the only one who noticed Mo's demeanor had changed severely. Mo's eyes were emotionless and he was focused solely on Shishio.

Shishio smiled, very, very slightly. "That's it, embrace the killer you know you are..."

Mo attacked again and somehow got the better of Shishio. He nailed him in the forehead with the hilt of his sword, sending Shishio flying across the roof where he slammed into the far wall. Yumi, still standing by the door, gasped. She placed a hand over her mouth in concern.

Shishio stood up, blood dripping down his forehead. His eyes flashed with anger and he raced across the room towards Mo. Their swords clashed and Mo was pushed back. He fell, quickly rolled to his feet and as Shishio brought his sword down, Mo placed a foot on his opponent's blade, pushed off of it and his fist struck Shishio in the jaw. Shishio looked furious and he swung his katana again. He narrowly missed Mo and as he raised his sword to slash down at him again, Mo crouched low and brought his own sword up at an arc, driving the blade into Shishio's side.

Shishio's eyes widened in shock as he watched the blade cut into him and he flew back, hitting the floor. He sat upright, his eyes burning with fury as Mo stood a few feet away staring back at him.

"Silvertongue, no! Don't lose who you are!" Dustfinger shouted in concern.

He was afraid Mo was going to kill the man. No matter how evil the man was, Mo's family was watching and they shouldn't see him kill someone.

Blood dripped from Shishio's side and he did not immediately get up as he adjusted to this new injury. Mo took a few steps closer to him. Yumi, from the doorway, pushed through Capricorn and his men, past Dustfinger and Meggie, to stand between Mo and Shishio. She was no more than a foot or two from either of them. Her arms were spread out, as if to block Mo from reaching Shishio. Her eyes were filled with worry and fear for Shishio's well-being.

"Stop! Enough! Please, leave him alone!" She cried.

Shishio did not take his eyes off of Mo as he spoke to the woman in the white dress.

"Yumi, move aside."

She ignored him, instead continuing to plead with Mo.

"Please! He can't fight anymore. Because of the burns, his body must remain a certain temperature or he'll die! He's a good man. I love him, please leave him alone."

Mo's eyes lightened as he heard these words. Dustfinger was greatly relieved when Mo lowered his sword, heeding her request. Mo hadn't become a killer like Dustfinger had feared. But his relief did not last long for as soon as Mo lowered his guard, Shishio took this opportunity to plunge his sword through Yumi's chest and into Mo's side.

Yumi's eyes filled with surprise and pain. Mo was completely in disbelief and shock. Crimson red spread across her dress, and as Shishio pulled the sword out she fell backwards into his arms, blood exploding from her gaping wound. Mo collapsed to the ground face down, blood spreading around him. Capricorn and the others looked on in horror at what they had just witnessed. Painfully, Mo dragged himself up on one knee and looked upon Yumi and Shishio.

Mo's shock and pain transformed into rage. "Shishio!"

He was appalled by the senseless death he had just witnessed. Shishio killing the woman who loved him. His rage dissipated slightly and surprise compromised his features as the woman began to weep. What was strange, was not her tears, but the fact that she was smiling slightly. Her eyes reflected joy as she laid in Shishio's arms dying. Staring up at him she began to speak, her voice frail.

"Thank you. This was the first battle I was able to help..It was an honor to finally be of use to you.."

Dustfinger was the most outwardly astonished.

"How can you-he just killed you!" He shouted out as if trying to put some sense into her.

Shishio gazed down at Yumi and began to speak to her.

"Did you fall in love with me at first sight? Of course not, every inch of me is burned...you love me for my inner self. So what do you think, Yumi? Are you in love?"

"Shi-Shishio.." Yumi uttered, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

Then she breathed out one last time and went still, her head falling back to rest on Shishio's shoulder. Her eyes were now glassy and frozen, staring up at the ceiling.

Mo slowly began to draw himself into a stand, trembling heavily. Shishio closed her unseeing eyes and lowered her body to the floor. No sooner had he done this, then he was leaping over her. He swept his sword across horizontally and Mo took a step back, avoiding it. But then Shishio continued bringing his sword around and slammed the hilt of his sword into Mo's fresh stab wound. Mo drew in a sharp intake of breath as pain coursed through his body and he fell to his knees, gagging as blood spurted from his mouth. He collapsed onto his stomach and rolled over onto his back, clutching his wound which was bleeding badly. His eyes were closed tight as he tried to cope with the strain and torment he was putting his body through. His breathing was heavy and his face was tightened in an expression of agony.

"Mo!" He heard Meggie cry out, followed closely by Capricorn's voice saying the same. "Mo!"

But Capricorn's tone was different than his daughter's. His was one of warning.

Mo opened his eyes and they expanded as he saw Shishio's blade bearing down on him. He rolled out of the way and avoided the second attack by leaping to his feet quickly. He blocked the third attack and their swords clashed. Both men struggled against the other, arms shaking from the force they were putting to get past one another's swords. Mo's eyes glowed with anger and determination and he pushed through Shishio's sword and slashed upwards, cutting his chest, causing blood to spray into Shishio's eyes. Shishio stumbled and fell to the ground from the injury. He got back onto his feet and wiped blood from his eyes that reflected rage equal to Mo's own. Their eyes pierced into one another and Mo began to scream at Shishio.

"I will not allow you to win! You cause pain and misery to everyone! You killed the woman you love just so you could hurt me. I cannot imagine what the world would become if you continued your mission. I will stop you. It ends here!"

Shishio looked furious. "Do you even realize who you're protecting? I see the eyes of killers in at least half of them. They are men no better than me. You are a fool fighting a battle that you cannot possibly win without losing."

Mo's face remained unchanged, filled with his anger. "That's the difference between you and me. I'm willing to sacrifice my life in order to save them. What are you willing to lose?"

Shishio clenched his fists and tilted back his head as he began to scream out his fury. "You cannot even begin to understand what I am!"

The two charged at each other and their swords met. Mo was forced back and Shishio pulled his arm away to bring the blade at his opponent once again but he left himself open at the same time. Mo slammed the hilt of his sword into the side of Shishio's head. Shishio flew through the air, away from Mo and hit the floor, unconscious. Mo stood there for a moment to make sure Shishio was going to stay down. When he didn't move, Mo slowly turned back to the others.

"Mo! You did it, you beat him!" Meggie exclaimed.

"It's over," she commented after taking a deep breath.

As if to prove her wrong, a shot rang out. At first Mo didn't feel anything. He saw Capricorn and his men, Dustfinger, Resa, and Meggie all looking at him though. Their eyes were wide with confusion and horror. Mo slowly looked down, the bullet had pierced his chest, near the left shoulder. He lifted his eyes and stared in the general direction of the others. His eyes were filled with confused pain but also with deep sorrow. He fell backwards, his hand reaching out as if looking for something to grasp so that he wouldn't fall. He hit the ground and didn't move again.

"Mo!" Resa cried out in hopelessness as she watched her husband fall.

Meggie was too stunned to make any kind of sound. She knew her father was dead and they were all going to die now too. One of the black clothed soldiers was standing a foot or so away from the other soldiers with a gun in his hand.

"The one who read me from the book gave me this gun. I never thought I'd ever use such a thing," the soldier told them.

He turned the gun on Capricorn next and his finger began to squeeze the trigger. Capricorn stared back at the man and watched him quietly. There was nothing he could do to stop it when these men had the upper hand. The soldier suddenly released the trigger and lowered the gun slightly, staring wide-eyed at him. No wait, he was looking slightly in front of him The other soldiers behind him shared his stunned gaze. It was then Capricorn and the others saw what the soldiers were seeing. Mo was standing from where he had fallen. He was bent slightly, soaked in blood but he straightening himself up, glaring at the soldiers.

"I'm not finished yet. Come on!" He shouted at them. His voice was filled with rage and the will to fight each and every one of them.

The soldiers seemed uncertain. They were shocked that he still had the strength to stand and they'd seen what he could do with a sword. The soldiers exchanged glances and then looked back at Mo who was gripping his sword tightly at eye level, just waiting to fight. Their eyes widened further and the one with the gun, dropped it and held up his hands to signify surrender. They had decided not to take their chances it seemed. Capricorn took this opportunity for him and his men to surround the soldiers and they confiscated their weapons. Resa, now free, ran to her husband.

It was a good thing the soldiers had surrendered because he had only been bluffing. The sound of Mo's sword clattering to the floor caught everyone's attention. He was bent over, his breathing raspy and rough. He stared at the floor, clutching his stomach wound which seemed to be causing him the most pain, though it was likely he hurt everywhere.

Resa reached him about the same time as Dustfinger and Meggie. Mo let out a strangled cough that spewed blood onto the ground. He started to collapse forward and Dustfinger moved over to catch him. Mo landed against his chest and he clutched Dustfinger's jacket to stay standing.

"Mo! I found it!" Elanora shouted, running out onto the roof.

Sophie and Travis were close behind her. When they saw the condition Mo was in Elanora commented.

"Whoa, you look awful."

Mo managed to smile slightly. "You just always seem to get here after all the fighting is done with."

Elanora apologized again and again before handing him the book. She insisted on healing him first and when she noticed Meggie's broken hand she quickly hurried to heal that too. Looking at his wife he asked her something jokingly.

"You wouldn't happen to have any of my clothes along would you?"

"Actually..."

He jerked his eyes to hers.

"Sheesh, Resa we had one fight. You were moving my things out already?"

"I was upset when I found out you had another daughter and it was just the things of yours that were in our car.."

"So you mean I have a sister?!" Meggie shouted excitedly.


	11. The Third Daughter

_**The Third Daughter**_

They'd decided to have Mo read from the book when they got out of the castle because Mo was assuming that the castle was part of it. The whole way down, Meggie chatted excitedly with Elanora, asking millions of questions. Meggie seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that just moments before, she'd had a broken hand and had been held hostage by an insane man.

Once they had made their way from the castle. Mo began to read from the book and soon the castle and everything inside of it disappeared in a cloud of dust. Around them, people began to appear on the streets. The inhabitants of the city were returning. But then the panic began. The people were screaming for their loved ones who seemed to have failed to return with them. The returned citizens started heading back into the center of the city, hoping their friends and family would be there. Resa led them over to her car which had been taken along with her when she and Meggie were kidnapped. Mo quickly got in and changed into a clean pair of blue jeans and a black dress shirt identical to his blue one he'd worn the other day except for the color.

Mo had barely stepped out of the car looking all nice with his neatly tucked in shirt and clean pair of jeans, when renewed screaming and shouting began. It was coming from the very heart of the city, near all the tall buildings. The people who had returned out of the book and proceeded to go further into the city were now running away from it.

"What's going on? Why is everyone running?" asked Sophie.

She ran a few steps closer to a tall building that seemed to be blocking their view of what was happening. Without warning, a car went flipping through the air, nearly crushing a pair of men that were running away. They fell to the ground looking terrified before they scrambled back to their feet and continued to flee. Elanora took a few steps closer to the city before turning back to them.

"Elle."

Elanora looked hard at Mo. "You were right to decide what you have. I'm just so sorry you have to."

"It's the only way to fix what he has done." Mo said to her.

"What are you two talking about? Wh-" Resa began to ask but she was interrupted by Travis's panicked shout.

"Where's Sophie? Where is she?!" Travis demanded.

Looking around, Mo and the others saw he was right. Sophie was no longer standing there. Travis began calling for Sophie and he started running into the heart of the city, searching for her. The others hurried to catch up to him. Reaching the city's square, they stood in front of some of the taller buildings to find a woman standing there. She was dressed in a black dress and wore a crown of some kind. She wore dark purple lipstick and eyeshadow. The woman stood with her nose upright, as if she were much too good for the rest of them. Beside her was a young man with short blonde hair and a scar across his brow and the bridge of his nose cutting to the right. The man wore black clothes and a tan coat. He stood with a blade resting on his shoulders sneering at the group. Upon seeing the group the woman introduced herself to them.

"My name is Edea. I am a sorceress called from my world to fix this one. This is my knight, Seifer."

At the mention of his name, the young man inclined his head towards their group slightly. His face still wore that same cocky, confident expression.

"Fix this world?" Mo questioned.

Edea conformed it. "Correct. I must destroy any of you who seek to threaten our reign here."

Mo shook his head adamantly. "You don't belong here. This isn't your world!"

The sorceress smiled but her smile didn't reach her eyes. It was clearly forced. "We'll see."

"Your world? I think not. The reader told me it would be mine,"a man's deep voice called out.

The man stepped around the corner. He was tall, deathly pale, and pure white hair that fell down his shoulders. His eyes were mere slits on his face and dark purple eyes stared out of them. His robes matched the color of his eyes and his very presence seemed to emanate authority and power.

Immediately Seifer stepped in front of the sorceress Edea protectively.

"Who are you? Give your name!" Seifer demanded.

The man smiled. "My apologies. I'm unaccustomed to people not recognizing me. I am Emperor Ghaleon."

As soon as Edea heard him announce that he was emperor, she instantly seemed enthralled by him.

"Emperor?" She asked him, sounding quite impressed.

Her obvious admiration for his title did not escape him as he came closer and he nodded.

"Magic Emperor Ghaleon to be precise."

The sorceress immediately seemed smitten. "I could certainly be okay with serving a magic emperor."

Ghaleon smiled again. "That is good news."

He looked towards Mo and the others. "And these ones?"

Seifer still stared at Ghaleon with hostility and distrust. It was clear he didn't like this man at all but he answered anyways.

"These ones wish to send us back to our worlds." Seifer informed the emperor.

"Is that so?" Ghaleon pondered. He examined their group. "Perhaps they would like to meet my new queen."

At this, Edea looked slightly disappointed. Clearly, she had been hoping to be his queen but Ghaleon seemed not to notice. He stepped away from the building further and held out his hand, extending it toward someone none of them could see. Then, the young girl came walking out from behind the building. The girl was Sophie! She was dressed in tight black clothes that were very revealing. A dark purple cloak was tied around her back partially covering her barely clothed body and she wore black lipstick and eyeliner. Her eyes were only for the emperor. She stared at him with infatuation as she walked to him. She took his hand and he pulled her towards him. Sophie pressed herself up against him and smiled happily up at him.

"Oh Ghaleon," she crooned, grateful to be so near him.

"Sophie!" Travis shouted.

Sophie didn't even seem to hear him, her eyes remained on her emperor. Ghaleon laughed when Travis continued to call to Sophie.

"She cannot understand you. She hears only my voice now. Sophie is my queen and she will stay that way."

Travis took a few steps closer to Sophie and Ghaleon. "Sophie, you don't even know him!"

"Go on my queen, why don't you explain to these people. Explain to them the situation they are in." Ghaleon urged Sophie on.

Sophie turned her eyes reluctantly from her emperor but seemed eager to do his bidding. She stepped away, towards Travis and the others. When she looked directly at them, they realized her eyes had transformed to red. She seemed completely unembarrassed by her exposed stomach and legs as she walked towards them in her high black boots.

"You shouldn't have interfered." Sophie said to them. Her voice was anything but friendly.

"Sophie.." Travis trailed off.

He couldn't believe the transformation she'd taken. Sophie continued to show no recognition towards any of them as she stopped short of them.

"Haven't you figured it out. There's no way to stop this."

Ghaleon smiled at her. "Go on. Raise our fortress, my queen."

She nodded, smiling back at him. She walked away from them towards the beach which stood directly to their right. Once she was facing the water, she extended her arms up to the sky and began to sing. But it wasn't her regular beautiful voice. This time it was low and scary. As her voice filled the clear blue sky, the earth around them began to shake.

"What's happening?!" Resa asked fearfully.

"Is it an earthquake?" Meggie yelled.

No one answered her and no one needed to. It wasn't long before foamy white rings began to form in the water. As Sophie's song echoed through the very earth and water itself, something began to come out of the ocean. A stone tower began to emerge from the turmoiling waves, reaching up into the clouds. It went up so far, that they couldn't even see where it ended. A connecting bridge dropped into the water, landing hard on the beach. Around the tower, four enormous green crystals on hovering stone pedestals rose out of the water, surrounding it. Sophie let the final notes of her song trail off before lowering her arms back to her side. Ghaleon went to stand beside her and she immediately leaned up against him again.

"Come, let us enter this place. Here is where we shall turn this world into our own kingdom." Ghaleon told her tenderly.

"What do you mean? What are you going to do?" Mo demanded moving up to stand beside Travis.

Ghaleon smiled at him. "My queen, why don't you show them."

Sophie nodded and turned towards the tower. Her eyes began to glow red and the blue sky turned dark, lightening crackled and thunder boomed loudly. Once again she raised her arms up and the gigantic crystals began to light up, their green light illuminating the area around the tower. The glowing light from the crystals connected to each other so that all four of them now formed a green square of light around the stone structure. And that was when the earth around them began to die. The water turned black and churned angrily, the grass faded and turned to crusty ground.

"Sophie, stop it!" Travis shouted.

He started towards her and Ghaleon but his path was soon blocked by the sorceress and her knight, Seifer. Travis was forced to halt in his path and he looked desperately for some way to get to Sophie.

Elanora looked to Mo. "You have to do something."

"What am I supposed to do? I can't do anything," he insisted.

Elanora told him what to do right away. "Baralei is bringing the villains out of their stories. So you need to bring the heroes out to stop them."

Mo stared at her incredulously. "I can't do that! All I can do is read out of a book and something might come out of it. I have no idea how to control it and even if I did, I don't have their books!"

"Mo I never thought it was the books that gave you your power. I think it's you who has that power. Your voice is what makes amazing things happen. Just give it a try."

"What am I supposed to say?"

"Whatever comes to you."

"I have to think this through," he finally stammered out uncertainly.

Elanora nodded in agreement. "Just let the right words come to you."

Sophie finished her song and looked lovingly back at Ghaleon who seemed pleased with her work. The earth around them was completely dead. He took her hand and led her across the bridge and into the water.

"No, Sophie!" Travis cried helplessly.

He couldn't get to her and he couldn't stand that feeling.

"Elanora!"

Standing near the space the sorceress and her knight had recently vacated, was a girl that looked to be Elanora, herself. Except that Elanora was standing right beside Mo and Resa. Looking more closely at the girl standing there, the group realized she was different. Elanora had green eyes while this girl's eyes were a strange purple. The girl wore black boots, a black skirt that ended just above the knees, and a crimson red tank top with curling designs all over it. Her arms were folded and she smirked at the group.

"It's been a long time, sister," the identical girl said to Elanora.

Elanora looked anxiously at the girl and stepped away from the group.

"Elle, I should have known from the beginning that you were involved."

"Yes, well you always were a fool."

"I guess I just hoped my own sister couldn't be that evil."

Elle laughed. "Evil? Is that what you've been telling people? Evil..I guess I can live with that. I suppose betraying your own flesh and blood constitutes as evil."

Elanora looked horrified. "You gave him mom, didn't you!"

"Yes, I gave him Lynne. I found his restless spirit still hovering around the place where he died one day and I struck a deal with him. He kills those that are gifted while I give him life so he can find his precious lover. It's brilliant really. I get to have him kill anyone out there who could be potential competition for me while he thinks he's doing it all for his dear Lenne. And to add to that, when he was alive, he thought destroying the world was the solution to saving his lover."

"Do you hate us that much?" Elanora practically whispered the question.

She seemed wounded by how glad her sister was that she had found a man who wanted to end the world. The comment seemed to upset Elle greatly.

"You? It's never been you that I hate. It's Lynne! She brought us into this sinful world. I hate her for that! I hate this place. Where everyone only cares for themselves and if anyone suspects you to be the slightest bit different then the rest of those drones, you immediately became the outcast."

Elanora seemed shocked by this revelation.

"What? What are you talking about Elle?" She asked her sister who immediately replied.

"Did you ever ask me once, why I killed that man back when we were little? No, you never did. I killed him because the bastard tried to touch me! The son of a bitch was a child molester. All you ever saw was me as a murderer. After that I couldn't stand the looks you would give me. You of all people, started to look at me like everyone else. You looked at me like I was freak!"

Elle's eyes threatened to spill tears as she continued to yell at her sister.

"So that's what I became. I left you and that woman a few years later to be that person you hate so much."

"That woman is our mother!"

"Mother? She bore us into this world as demi-gods. Freaks among the human race. I will never forgive her for that."

Mo felt it was time he said something. "Elle, you don't have to hate her. It's not her fault that she had you. It's what her duty was as a goddess and she had little choice."

Elle looked Mo over with great distaste. "You must be my so called father. I'm surprised you don't hate Lynne as much as I do. She never told you about us, never even mentioned that we existed. She lied to you."

"Hating isn't going to solve anything." Elanora protested to Elle, somehow trying to get through to her.

Elle returned her gaze to Elanora. "No? On the contrary, hating has given me more strength than I could of hoped for. So look good and hard Elanora. This is me and this is who I am."

Elle extended her hand to the sky and a large sword fell from the dark and stormy sky, burying itself into the earth. The sword was huge, larger than Elle herself. She picked it up with ease even though the weapon must have weighed a ton and slung it over her shoulder.

"Baralei has ordered me to kill your friends. He said nothing about you Elanora, so don't get in my way."

"Since when do you follow orders, Elle?"

Elle smirked. "I follow these orders because I choose to. Killing all of these people is going to make me happy."


	12. Villains and Heroes

_**Villains and Heroes**_

"_I follow these orders because I choose to. Killing all of these people is going to make me happy."_

With those words, Elanora knew her sister was truly lost to her. She stepped up to face Elle and spoke.

"The sword, Mo."

Mo untied the sword from his waist and handed it to her. As Elanora unsheathed the blade, Elle scoffed.

"Fine, protect your precious humans. Prepare yourself."

Then Elle charged Elanora, raising the sword above her head. Elanora unsheathed the sword and dropped the sheath onto the floor before racing towards her sister. She ducked and weaved as Elle continued her assault, swinging the blade up and down. Elanora was much too fast for Elle and her sister continued to miss her again and again. Finally after another graceful dodge Elanora leapt atop the broad sword, so she was actually standing on it and stared at her sister.

"Are you satisfied with trying to kill me? Is this making you happy?" Elanora questioned her.

"Shut up!" Elle hollered and Elanora back flipped off the sword.

No sooner had Elanora jumped from the sword, Elle chucked the large blade, literally throwing it at her. Elanora ducked and the sword flew past her, slamming into the side of a building. Elle reached a hand to the sky and a sword identical to Elanora's fell from it and dug itself into the ground. Elle raced for the sword, picked it up as she ran for Elanora and attacked. Their swords clashed over and over as they leapt around the buildings. As their fighting grew more furious, their swords began to shimmer. Elanora's shimmered with a green tinge and Elle's with a purple color. With a frustrated cry, Elle jumped away from Elanora and her whole body began to glow purple as she raised up her hand and sent a car flipping towards her twin.

Elanora leapt on top of it and then over swiftly. Elle sent a large truck careening through the air towards Mo and the others. Elanora raced to beat the truck and stepped in front of Capricorn, raising an arm and her whole body burst into green light and a clear force field rose up around her and everyone behind her. The truck hit it and flew backwards with such force that Elle had to jump into the air to avoid it. She stayed floating in the air and then flew towards Elanora with anger. Their blades met and Elanora slashed her sword across Elle's face. A large bloody cut was across her face but as Elle stepped back, wiping the blood from her cheek, the cut healed up before their eyes. Elle looked at Elanora with such anger but then her gaze became eerily calm. Elle lowered her sword and peered at Elanora.

"You could have decapitated me right there, but you didn't. What's the matter Elanora? Don't have what it takes to kill? I'll save you the trouble then. I will have my revenge on Lynne and this is how I can do it."

Elle began to fly up into the sky. She flew up higher and higher and then she did something no one expected. She stopped after flying up to a point where they could barely see her and then she started to fall. She plunged rapidly towards the ground, falling with her arms outstretched and her body posed towards the ground as she let herself fall. Elanora and the others stared up, watching in mute shock as Elle let herself fall. Mo quickly turned and covered Meggie's eyes as he realized what was going to happen.

"Don't look, Meggie."

Elle plunged face first into the street, a huge crater emerging in the concrete and blood exploding from her body. Elanora, who had been standing close to the spot where she fell, felt her blood splash against her face. She made no move to wipe it from her face as she stared at where her sister's body now lay. Her sister had just killed herself. Elanora had never seen it coming and she couldn't wrap her head around it. Resa took Meggie from Mo's grasp as he came over to Elanora.

"Elanora.." Mo started with sympathy in his voice.

Slowly she turned to look at Mo, her sister's blood running down her face. Finally she seemed to realize her cheek was covered in her sister's blood and she made a horrified gasp before running over to the side of a building and leaning down. The sounds of her throwing up were audible to the others and Mo looked at her sympathetically. He seemed very sad that such a thing had to happen. He couldn't imagine how much it must have hurt Elanora to be forced to watch her sister kill herself like that. And in such a horrible and selfish way.

After a moment she turned back to Mo, the blood wiped from her face and with regained composure.

"Have you found the right words, Mo?" Elanora asked him.

"Some words came to me but I have no idea if they're any good or if it'll work."

The sorcereress's voice rang out in annoyance. "I will just have to kill you myself."

Elanora concentrated on Mo. "Take your chances, time is running out. If Ghaleon reaches the top of that tower and finds whatever he's so sure can make the rest of this earth die..well that's not going to happen. Try it."

Mo nodded and the rest of them turned to face the sorceress and Seifer. She was raising her hand, blue light beginning to form in front of her.

"Hurry, Mo!" Resa urged.

"The otherworldly villains had begun their assault on this world, confident that their victory was assured. But what they didn't know would be their end. The ones-"

"Watch out!" Cockerell shouted.

The blue light that the sorceress had created had transformed into what seemed to be dozens of jagged ice crystals. With a wave of her hand, she sent them flying towards the group. Resa wrapped an arm around Meggie, lifting an arm as if to block the attack from her child. Mo looked shocked as one of the jagged pieces pierced through his shoulder. He cringed and fell backwards in stunned pain as his wife saw him and stared in horror. Automatically, Basta and Dustfinger reached down, each taking an arm to help him up. As they bent down the two long time enemies paused and exchanged glances with one another. For the first time, there were no harbored hatred between them. They were allies and they didn't mind it they realized.

The two pulled Mo to his feet and he stared at the spot where the ice had stabbed into his shoulder but there was nothing there. Basta poked Mo's shoulder curiously and Mo winced. His shoulder still hurt a lot.

"Ow, Basta." Mo complained, rubbing his shoulder.

Dustfinger frowned. "Where did the icicle go?"

"Magic." Elanora answered him. "It was ice magic. It disappears but still inflicts damage."

Already the sorceress, Edea, was beginning to conjure more of the magic ice up and Mo hurried to continue.

"The villains were confident that their victory was assured." Mo continued, shouting out his words. "But what they didn't know would be their end!"

Edea glared. "Stop him, Seifer!"

Seifer started towards Mo, his sword still resting on his shoulder.

Mo went on, ignoring everything around him. "They didn't know that the ones with the strength to stand against them, knew of their plans for this world and were already traveling out of their pages. The heroes traveled from their own stories and arrived to stop their familiar enemies. As the heroes collided with their old enemies, both disappeared back into their books forever to be binded there in order to continue their own stories in their own worlds."

Mo had barely finished his words when a young man that actually looked a lot like Mo himself, began to form directly in front of him. The man had hair styled like Mo's but darker in color and he also had a scar across the left side of his brow and across the bridge of his nose. In fact, his scar was identical to Seifer's own except that their scars were on opposite sides.

Once the man had fully appeared, his eyes found Seifer. A strange sword fell from the sky that looked similar to Seifer's own and the man picked it up.

"Seifer."

The man looked at the other man and glared. "Squall, always picking the wrong side."

Seifer did not hesitate to attack and the two became locked in intense combat. Already another figure was appearing beside Travis. It was a young teenager with brown hair and green eyes. He wore red armor and carried a sword. Looking around he spotted the looming tower and muttered to himself.

"Ghaleon..."

Then he ran towards the bridge leading into the tower and went inside. No sooner had he gone in, the bridge began to rise up.

"No! Sophie!" Travis shouted and ran after the boy.

"Wait!" Mo yelled but he went unheard and so he followed after Travis, narrowly making it across the bridge before it was fully raised.

"Mo!" Meggie shouted and tried to run after him but Resa held her back.

Elanora turned to Capricorn, who she seemed to assume was in charge since Mo had gone inside the tower.

"I'm going to the ruins to find my mother."

Capricorn shook off such a statement firmly. "No, Baralei is there. You can't go by yourself."

Elanora had already made up her mind. "He won't see me."

Then she took off at a run down the street, heading to the ruins without waiting for Capricorn's reply. Capricorn watched her go, contemplating on whether he should go with her but then the exasperated cry of the sorceress caught his attention.

The sorceress appeared to be very confused. The magic she had been conjuring had suddenly dissipated and she, herself, soon vanished in a cloud of dust. Seifer became dust and blew away right after her. No longer having an opponent, Squall turned around to the others and nodded his head towards them before he disappeared into dust as well, the wind blowing them back into their own stories.

A loud sound came from the tower and they raced onto the beach as the bridge started to lower. The tower was beginning to break apart and the pedestals with the crystals ceased their hovering, dropping into the black ocean below. When the bridge was fuller lowered, Travis came running across it. He carried Sophie in his arms. He'd barely made it across when a large chunk of stone broke off of the tower and slammed into the bridge, causing the whole thing to collapse.

Travis carried Sophie who was wrapped in her cloak to cover up her over-revealing outfit. Her head lay against his shoulder and she looked exhausted. Travis seemed tired himself as he was gasping for breath. The others hurried over to them, with Resa and Meggie in the lead.

"Where's Mo?" Resa asked Travis with worry etched all over her face.

Travis glanced behind him as he breathed heavily, still trying to catch his breath.

"He was on the top of the tower, holding off Ghaleon. He told us to run, that he would follow. I assumed he was right behind me! I'm sorry Resa."

Travis sounded truly sorry and upset that he hadn't made sure Mo was with him when he'd escaped.

"Mo's in there..?" Meggie asked no one in particular.

She sounded terrified for her father and the others stared up at the tower that was breaking apart before their very eyes. Pieces continued to fall from the tower and they looked on in horror. The tower exploded.

Resa screamed in panicked fear. "Mo!"

"Oh no.." Capricorn let himself trail off as his eyes became consumed by something he was seeing.

Capricorn was staring up at the sky and the group followed his gaze. The form of a man was falling from the tower, rapidly dropping headfirst towards the ocean. It was Mo, and he fell through the air with his arms at his sides and his head dropped back. He seemed to be unconscious because he made no move to stop his fall. He plunged headfirst into the water as the tower sank into the black ocean, disappearing from sight as Mo had.

"Silvertongue!" Dustfinger yelled.

He tugged off his heavy coat and dove into the water without hesitation, disappearing under the surface. Capricorn and his men made their way to the edge of the water. After what seemed like eternity, Dustfinger resurfaced with Mo in his arms. He started to drag Mo through the water towards the beach and Cockerell and Flatnose took a few steps into the ocean as Dustfinger got closer, helping him get Mo out of the water.

"He's not breathing." Dustfinger told them as they laid him on his back on the beach.

Resa and Meggie hurried to Mo and Resa immediately started CPR. She pushed on his chest a few times and then breathed into his mouth. After she breathed into his mouth, Mo began choking up as he coughed out water. He turned his head to the side as he spat the water out and opened his eyes.

"I'm fine." Mo told them and started to his feet.

He seemed to be searching for someone and then he looked at Resa. "Where's Elanora?"

The group made their way through the city with Dustfinger and Resa leading the way. Meggie walked beside her mother and the woman was walking fast, talking to her daughter calmly.

"It's nearly over Meggie. Don't you worry for a moment. We're going to make this Baralei go away and then we're all going to go home." Resa reassured her daughter.

"Resa..I think I know how to make Baralei go away." Meggie said to her mother, her voice low as if she were afraid that if she said it too loud Baralei might hear her.

"You do?" Resa asked sounding surprised.

Dustfinger glanced sideways at her, indicating that he was interested in hearing what Meggie had to say.

"Well..Mo got those other characters to go back into their books with only his voice. He found the right words and it worked. I know Baralei isn't from a book but I think if we can find the right words to bring Lenne here, he'll go away with her. All he really wants is to find Lenne." Meggie finished.

"Meggie, that sounds like a very good idea." Resa told her.

Meggie smiled happily but then she glowered a bit. "But I don't think it can work unless I give up my gift."

"What makes you think that?" Dustfinger asked the girl.

Meggie shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure exactly..but Baralei is only alive now because of his deal with Elle which makes me think that in order to get rid of him, we need to sacrifice the same thing that first brought him back to life..."

"Your gift." Resa finished for her.

"That sounds very intelligent, Meggie." Dustfinger looked impressed by her conclusion.

Meggie seemed slightly annoyed. "I'm a kid but I'm not stupid."

Dustfinger managed to laugh at that despite the situation they were in.

"You're right Meggie. I'm sorry," he apologized with a smile.

They had been walking for about ten minutes and were just now reaching the edge of the city. The path to the ruins was in sight but it was definitely a longer walk than they had first thought. Mo walked at the back of the group and the others figured he was simply tired from his recent plunge into the ocean. Mo was relieved they thought that, because he didn't want them to have to worry about him as well. Mo had been keeping a hand over his side the whole way and his pace was growing slower as they walked along. But apparently he hadn't fooled everyone because he noticed Basta slowing his own pace until the two were now walking beside each other.

"What's wrong?" Basta asked him, still staring straight ahead so he wouldn't draw the others' attention.

"I don't know what you mean." Mo replied, trying to be nonchalant.

Basta was not amused and he stepped in front of Mo, putting a hand out so that Mo walked into it and was forced to come to a stop. Capricorn immediately took notice but the others continued on, no more the wiser.

"I'm fine. Lets keep moving." Mo said to Basta anxiously.

Capricorn came over, having overheard them. He lowered his gaze to where Mo's hand rested on his side and Mo reluctantly allowed Capricorn to move his hand. Where his hand had covered his black shirt, it was wet and sticky with blood.

"When did this happen?" Capricorn asked him.

"Ghaleon stabbed me in the tower. I can make it to the ruins." Mo insisted.

"And after the ruins?" Capricorn asked him.

Mo didn't answer him and Capricorn met Mo's eyes but said nothing more before stepping aside to let Mo pass. The rest of the way, Capricorn and Basta walked behind Mo and he could feel their eyes on him the whole time.


	13. What They Died For

_**What They Died For**_

The ruins were made up of extensively damaged buildings and stone floors. There was a field in the middle of the ruins where dead yellow grass dominated the area and in which Elanora stood with her back to the group as they arrived. She held the katana in her hand and seemed to be listening for something. She had a few cuts on her arms and legs but she hardly appeared to take notice of them. Hearing their group approach, she glanced over her shoulder at them before turning away again. But then she did a double take, looking back in their direction with renewed alert. Baralei was behind them, standing on an old desolated building roof top.

"How nice of you all to come. I was just showing your friend here, what happens to trespassers." Baralei shouted down to them.

He leapt off the roof top with a sword in his hand. His weapon was like Elanora's katana, only it was much longer. Elanora ran forward and the two clashed with their swords. Elanora shoved her foot into his chest, knocking him backwards.

"Mo! Lynne's in that building!" Elanora yelled.

She pointed towards a red colored building whose walls barely stood more than six feet tall because the roof had been completely torn from its original structure. Mo ran for the building only to find Baralei's man, Lasko, walking out of the opening in the structure to meet him. Lasko ran a hand through his spiky silver hair and tightened his grip on his own sword.

"If it isn't the big hero." Lasko taunted him.

He beckoned for Mo to try and get through him. With no weapon, Mo didn't dare to come any closer. The fact that Mo didn't have a weapon didn't seem to bother him. He started towards Mo with a grin.

"Mo!"

Elanora threw her own sword towards Mo and it landed in between him and Lasko. Elanora then continued to avoid Baralei's attacks without a weapon, keeping him busy. Mo and Lasko locked eyes and then Lasko ran to attack as Mo ran for the weapon. He picked it up and threw himself into an attack against Lasko. Dustfinger pulled Resa and Meggie away from the fighting, under the roof of one of the buildings. Elanora avoided one of Baralei's attacks, reached up her hand and several swords fell from the sky. She picked one of them up and Capricorn took this opportunity to get involved. He shouted his orders and Capricorn's men went for the swords. Once Capricorn and his men were armed, they took over the fight with Baralei and Elanora nodded her thanks to them before running for the structure her mother was in.

While all of this was going on, Meggie pulled herself away from Resa's grasp and hurried a few steps away before she started to shout her words that she had come up with. A part of her didn't want to do it because by doing so she would no longer have the gift like Mo. But she also knew that Baralei would kill them all if she didn't. Meggie had remembered hearing Sophie's words back in the theater on how Lenne had wanted to tell Baralei how she'd felt but never got the chance to. With that she had formed her words which she hoped would bring Lenne here.

"Baralei was a good man once upon a time." Meggie began.

At the mention of his name, Baralei froze from his fight with Capricorn and his men and turned his eyes on her. Mo and Elanora were still trying to get past Lasko and they continued to fight regardless of Meggie's words. Meggie was slightly intimidated by everyone now looking at her but she took a deep breath and continued.

"He was a good man and he met a beautiful girl whom he loved more than even the world itself. But it seemed there love was not to be. The young woman, Lenne, was born into having the duty to die so that her world could live in peace. Torn apart by the knowledge that his lover was going to die, Baralei became determined to do whatever it took to save her. Lenne learned of what Baralei was going to do and she tried to find him. She needed to find him so she could tell him what he needed to know. But her words went unspoken and in death, Lenne continued her search for Baralei in the hopes that she could turn their lonely years apart into only days, and one day she did find him in a city of ruins. She found him and she reminded him that what had happened was now just a memory and he didn't need to fight anymore. The girl known as Meggie agreed to no longer carry the gift of a reader in order to find Lenne and bring her to those ruins, and so Lenne came, not to leave a sacrifice unheeded."

No sooner had Meggie spoken her words, white pieces of light appeared beside her and suddenly a tall woman was standing there. Lenne wore the purple outfit she had died in and her long brown hair fell down her back. Her eyes were filled with sadness and they seemed only to see Baralei. Upon Lenne's appearance, Baralei stared at her in astonishment and disbelief.

"Lenne.." he murmured.

She walked towards him and stopped a few feet away. "Baralei, what have you done? This isn't what I wanted."

"Where have you been? When we died together..I searched everywhere for you."

Lenne continued to look at him with such sadness and grief. "I tried to find you too. I needed to say things to you that day..when we died. I still need you to know.."

She took another step closer before continuing. "I didn't want to leave you Baralei..but I was willing to die in order to save our world. If my death could bring peace to countless others then I was ready."

Baralei's eyes softened in pain and sorrow. "I'm so sorry I let you die..."

"You didn't Baralei. You tried to save me."

Baralei let his sword fall from his hand as Lenne came to him and he pulled her into a warm embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulders.

"I love you, Baralei." Lenne said to him, her voice barely a whisper.

A single tear ran from her eye and she smiled. Baralei had never looked more at peace. The anger had completely left his eyes and they were soft and kind. He held Lenne close and seemed so content as the two began to fade away. Then they disappeared into dozens of the white bits of light before those too, eventually vanished.

Meggie was sad by what had happened to those two. They had loved each other so much but never got to enjoy a life together. For the first time, Meggie was glad she had sacrificed her gift so that Baralei and Lenne were able to be reunited. Speaking of reunions..Lasko was lying on the ground and from where she stood, Meggie couldn't tell if he was dead or unconscious and she didn't care to find out because Elanora had found her mother.

Mo and Elanora came out of the building with a woman being supported between the two of them, in time to see Baralei and Lenne vanish. The woman had the most gorgeous blonde locks of hair that fell down her back and her eyes were the bluest Meggie had ever seen. She seemed to be okay but then she pushed them away from her, standing on her own.

"You need to get away from me!" Lynne yelled at them.

"Mom, come on.." Elanora started, reaching for her mother's arm.

Lynne batted the hand away. "Get away!" She screamed.

Then she started to clutch her head and her eyes began to glow a very bright blue.

"I can't stop it Elanora! I'm overloading, I can't stop it!"

Lynne cried out in agony as she gripped the sides of her head. She was in an enormous amount of pain. Elanora and Mo began backing away from her as they realized what was happening. Baralei's desire to destroy the world was going to succeed. The minute he had put Lynne into her forced sleep, he had set the plan in motion. While she'd slept, her powers had continued to build up within her body in an effort to wake her. That same power was enough to kill everything around her when it was released and that was happening now before their eyes. Lynne's entire body became enveloped in blue light and immediately Elanora raised up her force field around the rest of them. Lynne looked entirely inhuman now. Her eyes glowed blue so brightly now and her face was contorted into pained fury. Lynne's power burst against Elanora's shield and Elanora turned a glowing green as she was forced to increase the effort she was using to keep the force field raised. Everything that wasn't protected by Elanora's shield was becoming decimated.

The dead yellow grass incinerated, the buildings turned to dust as well. It was apparent Elanora wasn't going to be able to protect the others for much longer.

"You need to run." Elanora shouted to them.

Her back was to them but it was obvious from the way her body trembled, that she was having difficulty keeping the force field up.

"You need to run as fast as you can for the top of the ruins over there."

None of them had even noticed the stairs to their right that led up to some sort of stone platform.

"I'm going to place my shield around my mother and me so it will only hit us. Move as soon as I lower this shield."

"Elanora, no!" Sophie cried out.

But then Elanora lowered the shield and ran for her mother. The rest of them remembered Elanora's instructions and took off towards the stairs, running up them as fast as they could move. Meggie stumbled and Mo picked her up in his arms and carried her the rest of the way. Dustfinger was the last one up the stairs and before he reached the platform, he turned back to see Elanora's shield go up around her and Lynne and not a moment too soon.

A huge explosion shook the stone platform they were on and the spot where Elanora and Lynne had been was mixed in green and blue light before the area faded to nothing. There was nothing left of the two except a black ragged hole in the earth. The group then watched in amazement as what could only be described as a vortex, appeared near the edge of the platform, on the opposite side of where they stood. No sooner had the vortex appeared, the darkened sky around them became clear again and the churning black ocean turned calm and blue again. The earth that had died because of Ghaleon, began to turn green as the grass regrew upon it. Around them on the ground below, people were appearing all over. It was citizens of the city. The ones that had vanished into the stories of the villains when they had come out.

Everyone seemed tired but relieved. It was over and they had won. Resa hugged her daughter with a smile.

"See, I told you it would all work out," she told Meggie.

Travis put an arm around Sophie and pulled her close with a sigh of relief but Sophie didn't seem completely comfortable yet. Her expression still seemed sad as she rested her head on Travis's shoulder. Meggie was happy it was all over like her mother, but she was filled with sorrow because Elanora had had to die so they could live. Elanora had saved the whole world and no one would ever know it. As these thoughts filled her mind, Meggie noticed Mo. His demeanor was one of quiet burden. He looked at each of them and seemed happy that they were glad but his shoulders slumped with whatever burden he was keeping from them. After a moment, he squared his shoulders and stood up straight.

"Well, it's time for me to go." Mo announced to everyone.

Confused expressions all around. All except for Sophie.

"No, Mo please don't go. I don't want you to leave," she pleaded with him.

He took a few steps away from the group and turned to look at Sophie. He seemed to be avoiding Resa and Meggie's gazes.

"I'm sorry but I made a deal with Elanora so that everything would return to the way it was before those characters from the books came out."

"You knew all along that you were going to disappear when this was over." Capricorn realized, his voice reflecting his astonishment.

Mo nodded slightly. "For the most part, yes."

"A deal? What do you mean, Mo? In exchange for what?" Resa asked him, sounding wounded.

"I wrote myself out of this story and out of every story. I wrote myself out of existence. I'm so sorry Resa. I wish I didn't have to go but this was the only way I could put things back to the way they were supposed to be."

A few bits of white light came out of Mo and floated into the vortex. To the others, the whirling vortex now seemed as though it was waiting for Mo. When no one said anything, Mo turned and started to walk determinedly towards the vortex.

"No! Don't go!" Resa cried.

She ran to wrap her arms around him. Hearing her footsteps, Mo turned and raised his arms as if to catch her. Everyone was shocked when Resa ran right through him and fell to the ground. Mo, himself, looked surprised and at the same time as if it shouldn't have surprised him. He stared at his arms that were now starting to become translucent and then turned his eyes to the others. He looked at each one of them, his eyes lingering the longest on Meggie. She wore an expression of horror and seemed completely grief-stricken. She appeared as though she couldn't believe this was really happening and was rooted to the spot because of it.

Behind Mo, Resa slowly got to her feet and stared with incredible sadness and pain at nothing in particular. Still standing with her back to Mo and the others she spoke, barely above a whisper.

"I love you."

Upon hearing Resa say those words, Mo turned away from the others to face her. He walked over to Resa and though he couldn't physically touch her since he was already fading, he crossed his arms around her shoulders and rested them on her chest as if he were holding her from behind. Mo placed his head near hers and they just stood their for a moment as Resa began to understand and accept that this was going to happen. Then he turned to glance behind him and looked at Meggie. Their eyes met and unspoken words were passed between them before he smiled at her as if to tell her that everything was going to be okay. He gave her a wink as if to prove to her that everything was all right. Then Mo waved a hand at the rest of them, to say good-bye, and turned his head forward again. He walked through Resa and to the vortex where he spread his arms and jumped into it. He disappeared into the whirling light and then it vanished completely. Gone as abruptly as it had come. They stood there for a long time, staring into the space where Mo had disappeared as if there was a chance he might come back.

"We have to explain to the city. We have to tell them what happened." Sophie stated.

"They'll never believe us. No more so than if I walked up to someone and admitted I was from a book." Dustfinger blandly retorted.

Meggie barely heard what Sophie and Dustfinger were saying. She was watching her mother. Resa still stood quietly, staring at the spot where Mo had vanished. Meggie slowly made her way over to her mother and peered up at her uncertainly.

"I can't believe I lost him.." Resa murmured. "I just found him again and now I've lost him..."

Tears began to stream down her face. The others heard Resa's words and saw how disoriented she seemed. Meggie's next words tore at Dustfinger's heart.

"He's not really dead, right? Mo's going to come back?" Meggie asked her mother.

When she didn't answer, Meggie started to cry and she buried her face into Resa's shoulder.

"I want Mo to come back. Make him come back." Meggie sobbed.

Her mother didn't even respond to her daughter, she seemed completely separated from what was happening around her. Dustfinger came and took Meggie by the hand, leading her over to Sophie and Travis. Resa was in no state to take care of her daughter.


	14. The Aftermath

_**The Aftermath**_

The next few weeks went by in a haze for Resa. She couldn't seem to pick herself up and get on with her life after Mo had gone away. Every time the thought to get out of her bed crossed her mind, she would see Mo's face, his smile, his laugh, and then she would bury her face under the covers again.

The people of the city hadn't wanted to admit the strange things which had taken place there. But they did acknowledge that Capricorn's men, Dustfinger, and everyone else had indeed saved the city and so they'd all been given one of the homes for rent to have free of charge for as long as they wanted to stay. Capricorn and his men were staying in the house with them since Capricorn seemed unable to decide what he wanted to do next. He certainly didn't appear to be in any hurry to return to his village. Meggie had phoned Elinor and barely got a word out when the older woman insisted that she come stay with them. So Elinor had been taking care of Meggie the last three weeks and had often gone in to check on Resa as well. Elinor was the only one Resa was willing to see and so Meggie felt even worse. She felt like she'd lost her mother _and_ her father. Dustfinger tried to entertain her with his tricks of fire and for awhile it worked. But then Meggie always found her mind drifting back to her mother, which then led her to think of Mo and she would start crying. Cockerell and Flatnose would try to cheer her up when she cried by trying to teach her how to shoot with the new rifles they had acquired. Meggie liked that because it helped her to concentrate on something besides the day when she'd lost Mo.

After the first month went by, her mother finally got out of bed. She put on a smile in front of them all and seemed to be her usual happy self but they all knew better. Though Resa would smile, the grief and deep sorrow she was feeling never left her eyes. Sometimes when she thought no one was watching, she would stare into space with tears threatening to emerge. But as soon as the tears began to form, they would disappear and she would be smiling again. There was something else Resa started to do after that first month as well.

Every afternoon at three o'clock, Resa would go down to the beach and stand on the edge of the pier. She would stand there and whistle until her throat grew sore and then she would sit staring out at the water until the sun went down and the day faded into night. It wasn't until the second week that Meggie realized she went there at the same time her father had disappeared. When she discovered this, she told Elinor while the others were in earshot and Elinor just sighed that sad little sigh she now always seemed to have ever since Mo had gone.

"Of all my relatives, I just had to lose my favorite." Elinor muttered to herself as she always did.

Sophie and Travis often came to visit them since they lived in the city. They would play with Meggie since she didn't know anyone even close to her age that lived there. But most of the time they weren't there so Meggie would sit around, ironically usually in the same room as Capricorn and his men, bored out of her mind. Even though her mother was up and about for most of the morning and afternoon, Meggie found herself avoiding Resa. Meggie didn't want to see her mother's sad gazes or her false smiles and her mother usually stayed in the kitchen with Elinor so that left either her bedroom or the living room where Capricorn and his men typically were. Since she definitely didn't want the others to think she was crying in her room or anything, Meggie chose to spend her days with Capricorn and his men.

Capricorn's men were actually fairly good storytellers and sometimes they would entertain her with a tale or two about their home world. They told her of the Wayless Woods and of the Laughing Prince. Dustfinger would often sit and listen to their stories and sometimes he had a good one to tell her too. It was after Cockerell finished telling her one of his tales that Capricorn spoke directly to Meggie. He didn't often do that so she was very surprised.

"You seem to love stories. Why is it then, you never read any books?"

The question was earnest and she could see no harm in telling them exactly why she never read them.

"I'm never going to touch another book again." Meggie told him, avoiding his gaze.

"Good heavens child! What do you mean, not another book? You love to read."

Elinor had apparently been standing in the doorway of the room listening to everything. She stepped into the room now with her hands placed firmly on her hips as she demanded to know why Meggie didn't want her books anymore. Meggie stood, folding her arms tightly across her chest as she answered.

"Because books have brought us nothing but trouble. They took my mother from me when I was three, they took my gift away so I could stop Baralei, and they were the cause of what killed..."

Meggie let her voice trail off. She couldn't bear to say Mo's name in the same sentence as killed. It had been a month and a half and she realized that she still wasn't even close to being okay with Mo being gone. She wanted him back so badly. Elinor seemed unaffected by her words. In fact, her expression towards Meggie grew quite stern.

"Meggie, I'm sorry about your father but you can't possibly blame books for everything bad that has happened to you. As for losing your gift, you should be happy. Now you're free to read out loud without worrying about anything going in or out of it." Elinor told her quite seriously.

But Meggie was final in her decision. "I won't read anymore because he can't read anymore. Mo can't do anything ever again!"

With that said, Meggie turned on her heel, stomped past Elinor, and went straight to her room. Behind her she could hear Elinor sigh to herself.

The next two weeks went by with Meggie and Elinor pretending as if they had never fought. Resa still continued her trips out to the pier but her visits to the ocean grew shorter each day. During those two weeks Resa only went out for an hour or two each afternoon, returning right around dinnertime. One of those times when Resa returned in time to join them for dinner, Meggie's curiosity got the better of her.

"Resa, why do you go down to the pier everyday? And why do you whistle?" Meggie asked her mother.

The crowded table grew silent, even Capricorn was looking at Resa, waiting for her answer. Resa placed her fork gently onto her plate and met Meggie's gaze.

"I suppose I should have known you would ask me one of these days."

Resa's eyes grew distant, as if she were picturing something in her mind. At first Meggie thought her mother wasn't going to tell her, that she was going to get sad and excuse herself like she sometimes did. But instead Resa's eyes filled with happiness at some memory she was remembering and she told her story with that look in her eye.

"When your father and I were still dating, we went to this fancy party. The place was so crowded and I was hopelessly worried that we would get separated because of the sheer magnitude of people there. I almost changed my mind about going in once we were there, but Mo..he told me not to worry. If we were separated, all I had to do was whistle and he would find me. Mo always did love the ocean. He loved the sheer vastness of the water and how little people really knew about it. So I go there and I whistle over and over..hoping that he will find me..."

After her story, Resa excused herself and went to her room. She didn't come out the rest of the night. The following afternoon, Sophie and Travis surprised them with a visit right after they got out of school. They came in the front door, greeting everyone and then Sophie searched around.

"It's a beautiful day out! What's everyone doing in here? Come on, we're all going to the beach today!"

She jumped up and down, as if emphasizing how great the beach was. After much poking and prodding from Sophie, Meggie agreed but only to go for a walk. Sophie accepted her terms and badgered Elinor to tag along until Elinor finally threw up her hands.

"All right, all right, but I don't see the marvel of walking on a bunch of gritty pieces of sand."

With Meggie and Elinor now going, Sophie turned on Capricorn and his men, and Dustfinger.

"Come on boys! You need to get out of this dark house and into the glorious sun!" She exclaimed.

When none of them budged, her eyes narrowed and she looked at them sternly.

"I said move! Look how pale you all are, the sun will do you good."

Dustfinger stood and shook his head. "No thank you Sophie. Maybe another time."

But standing up had been a grave error for him because suddenly he found himself being propelled out of the house by Sophie's pushy hands.

"If I have to go then you're coming too." Dustfinger growled and snatched hold of Basta's arm, causing both of them to be shoved out into the bright afternoon.

After posting Travis at the door to make sure none of them came back in, she turned to Capricorn and the rest of his men, her expression one of crazed determination.

Meggie had no idea how she'd done it, but soon all of them were walking onto the beach, Capricorn and his men included. When she asked Cockerell how she'd gotten him and the others to come, he pointed at Sophie and whispered.

"You do not, tell that girl, no." He said it as if Sophie were some terrifying creature and Meggie laughed.

Cockerell seemed surprised. "I believe that may be the first time I've heard you laugh, Meggie."

Meggie was taken aback by this comment. She hadn't really thought about it, but he was right. She hadn't laughed even once after Mo went away. That was two months ago..she realized all over again.

The beach wasn't too crowded and so Sophie had no trouble as she marched them all straight over to the water's edge. That was when she noticed Resa. Meggie had forgotten her mother was out on the pier. She hadn't realized it was that time of the day.

"Resa!" Sophie shouted and waved to her, excitedly.

Resa, who had been whistling, stopped and shifted her head in their direction. She turned to look out over the water one last time before walking back along the pier and onto the beach. She came over to them but stopped abruptly several yards from where they stood and stared at a spot behind their group. Following her gaze, the group soon shared her amazement.

Elanora was standing across the beach, watching them. At first Meggie thought she was alive and couldn't understand how that was possible. But then she saw the looks other visitors of the beach were giving her. They noticed her at a glance and then rubbed their eyes and looked again, unable to believe what they were seeing. Elanora's body was partially see-through and it was then Meggie realized she was also wearing the clothes she'd died in. Elanora was dead and yet she was here. She made no move to come any closer and she only looked at Resa.

"I convinced them to let me come see you, Resa." Elanora said, speaking at last. "I made them see how much Mo had sacrificed so that this world could be saved. How he let his own life be lost so that everything could be as it was meant to be. And I have a message from him."

Resa stared wide-eyed at Elanora, her eyes filling with tears. "What? What did he say?" She asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

"Mo wanted you to know, he heard your whistle."

A loud sob escaped Resa's lips and the tears fell down her cheeks. She lowered her head to wipe the wetness from her face and when she looked up again, Elanora was gone.

"Where is she?" Resa asked, desperately searching the beach for the blonde girl.

"What's that?!" A random girl on the beach shouted in surprise.

The guy with her seemed just as stunned. "I don't know! I've never seen anything like that before!"

It wasn't hard to find what the entire beach was beginning to notice and stare at. A huge beam of green light had shot into the ocean and as it did, a circle of the water started to churn and bubble. People that were in the water began to panic and swim to shore, running onto the beach as quickly as they could. The light was just off the shore from where Meggie and the others were gathered and their eyes were glued to the spot. Then, as if it had never happened, the green light vanished and the water stopped churning. The water regained its calm surface and gradually, the gathered bunch of confused onlookers went back to what they had been doing. No one had any idea what had just happened and no one did dare to go back in the water. For some reason, Meggie and the others continued to stare out at the water. Since no one else had gone back into the ocean, it was very easy to notice when suddenly a person emerged from under the surface. The person was close enough to the beach for Meggie and the others to recognize who it was. It was her father. It was Mo.

Mo was dressed in what he had disappeared in, his blue jeans and black dress shirt. He had appeared deep in the ocean and had reached the surface feeling very disoriented. He shifted his head around as he tread water in place, searching to see where he was. That was when he noticed the beach. He started to swim towards it and when he reached a point where he could stand up, he did so and took another look around him.

"Mo!" A woman's voice shouted.

No, not any woman's voice. Mo knew that voice..Resa. He turned his eyes towards the source of her voice and he saw them. Resa, Meggie, Elinor, Dustfinger, Sophie and Travis, even Capricorn and his men. They were all there on the beach staring out over the water at him. He grinned and started wading through the water, towards the beach. Clearly Resa couldn't wait that long though. She ran into the ocean and made her way to him as quickly as she could. Finally the two made it to each other and Resa threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him down. He laughed and embraced her warmly as she joyfully held him close. More splashing sounds and soon Meggie was there. Still holding Resa with one arm, he pulled Meggie to him with the other and she hugged him tightly. Eventually the family made their way to the beach and Meggie was tugging on his arm, urging him to tell her how he'd been able to come back to them. Resa held onto Mo's other arm fiercely. As though she were afraid that if she ever let him go, he might never come back. Mo knew he certainly owed them an explanation so he told them what he knew.

"Elanora said she owed me for saving the world and she was going to convince them, and don't ask me who them is because I have no idea." Mo told them. "Anyways, Elanora told me that she convinced them to recreate me. When I asked her how she could have possibly talked them into doing such a thing, all she said was that being a dead demi-god has those kinds of perks."

Mo gazed around at everyone again and his eyes finally came to rest on Resa and Meggie. He was home.


End file.
